Lore
by Differing Fools
Summary: The grounds of Mahora Academy are home to more than mages and vampires. Something far more sinister lurks within the school grounds. Pluto recruits three young girls to try and stop it. Featuring the talents of Shark8, Shroud the Wise, and EternallyLost.
1. In Vinculis Etiam Audax

"I shall announce the results," the masked man said as he pulled out his chair to take his seat. He calmly ignored the peacock running amuck and the various suited agents chasing the bird.

In the audience, three people watched intently. Well, to be fair, one sulked intently while the other two watched. The sulker had already lost the bet, as the participant he had bet on had been knocked out in the semi-finals. Nevertheless, they all seemed decidedly out of place. The sulker, scowling at the other two while simultaneously watching the proceedings, had short silver hair and was wearing a matching silver business suit. Next to him, standing with a confident smirk, was a woman in her early twenties with long green hair in what appeared to be a sailor fuku, holding a large silver staff with a garnet orb at the end. The last of the group was a small girl wearing a flowing white dress, noticeably barefoot and frowning in thought.

The masked man, obviously the judge of this competition, sat down. "Very well," the man began, "I shall now announce it." There was silence as the audience waited in anticipation, the strange trio included. "The champion of the 39th Pantasia newcomers' battle is..." He paused once again, milking the audience's anticipation. Raising a hand, he brought it down over the bread to his right. "...Azuma Kazuma."

As the audience let out a cheer, a noticeable whoop coming from one young man with an afro, the young girl bit off a curse. Birds began to fly about the room as if in celebration, but it didn't help her scowl.

"Looks like I win the bet," the green-haired lady commented. "Azuma Kazuma is the winner of the bread-baking tournament." Even as the pink-haired baker who got second place contested the ruling, she knew it wouldn't change.

"I still can't believe the sword-boy lost in the semi-finals..." the silver-haired man remarked, more to himself than anybody else.

"Get over yourself, Clay," the youngest said. "Suwabara doesn't have the drive needed to win a baking tournament of this caliber." She was silent a moment. "Though... I thought the pink-haired baker was a sure-win." She kicked the ground.

"Come, come," the fuku-clad woman said cheerfully, "cheer up!" She was silent for a moment. "Or not. All that really matters is that you both uphold your end of the bargain."

Clay looked around suspiciously, though he knew nobody else in the room could hear or see them. "Well, all right. What favors do you need, Pluto?"

Sailor Pluto, also known as Setsuna Meiou, grinned. "I'm glad you asked." She held up a finger. "I'm having a small problem. Some magician is causing trouble in an all-girl's school. I'll need you each to provide me with a girl to turn into a Sailor Senshi to uncover this magician and defeat him."

"Turn into a Senshi?" Clay asked. "You can do that?"

"Of course not!" Setsuna replied cheerfully. "That's what I have Mirus for!"

The young blue-haired girl frowned. "So from me you'll need a girl who can find this man and can defeat him, as well as the means to turn the mundane girls into Sailor Senshi?"

"Don't play the weak little girl act," Setsuna replied coolly. "I know it's well within your powers."

Mirus nodded. "All right, I suppose I can do that." She was silent. "Why not just have us take care of this threat ourselves?"

Setsuna considered whether or not to reveal that. She decided to hide it. Smiling, she replied, "I want Hotaru to get some experience in. I'll be sending her along with the two you provide for me. She can be spared for the effort, though none of the other Senshi can."

"I see," Mirus responded.

Sailor Pluto continued. "I'll meet you at my house tomorrow morning." She held up her staff. "Seven o'clock. Don't be late." With that, she disappeared.

"How troublesome," Clay said, scratching the back of his head. "I think I'll have to pull Eryn out for this."

"Indeed," Mirus agreed.

))o((

_Lore_

I. In Vinculis Etiam Audax

))o((

"Hey, dumbass!"

Eryn turned around as he exited the school gates, half wondering who had just called out for him, although he had a pretty good guess. As an arm grabbed him by the shoulder from the other direction, he knew. Looking up at Clay, he sighed. "Why are you bothering me?"

Clay slapped a hand against his chest in mock hurt. "Ah, how mean. And here I had come to help you."

Eryn's eyebrows arched in surprise. "What, you're going to finally send me home?"

Clay shook his head. "Nope. Good guess, though."

"So... as I said the first time, you're just here to bother me. So what is it?"

Clay shook his head, attempting to ignore the boy's negative words. "Hmm... Now that I think about it, this might require a longer explanation than I expected."

Eryn once again sighed. "Really now?"

Scratching his chin, Clay pointed at a nearby car and said, "Come on, I don't have much time, so I'll explain on the way, okay?"

Eryn followed Clay, talking the passenger side seat.

As he drove, Clay began. "Anyway, let's see... Well, here are the basics. Every now and then, us higher being types will hang out with one another. I mean, when you have an infinite amount of time on your hands, you tend to get bored hanging out by yourself. So me and two others had decided to place wagers on a certain... well, let's call it a tournament. Anyway, to make a long story short, the wager from each was to grant whatever the winner requested."

Eryn nodded, not really understanding what the hell Clay betting had to do with him.

"Well, as fate would have it, I lost. And as such, I was put in the position of granting the request of the winner. And she just happened to request the use of one of my avatars, and guess who I picked?"

Eryn gulped. "And what new horror does that mean for my life?"

The boy was favored with a smile. "No horror, really. In fact, I'm going to be getting rid of Princess for you!"

He blinked, not believing it. "Really now? I thought you said that was impossible?"

Clay shrugged. "So sue me, I lied."

"You know... I don't know whether to jump for joy or strangle you."

Clay interrupted, a smirk on his face, "Only problem is, your soul's going to be transferred over to your cursed body."

"...I guess that answers my question." Eryn reached over and would've strangled the man, had his hands hadn't suddenly become limp and unresponsive.

Clay continued to smile. "Anywho, she wants you delivered within the next twenty four hours so she can fit a few more changes onto all her new prizes. So I have to get to work on you soon."

Eryn replied, caution and fear tainting his voice, "And what if I said no to all this?"

"Who said you had any choice in the matter?"

Eryn snorted angrily before responding, "I really hate you, you know that?"

Clay shrugged. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't."

Eryn leaned back in his seat. Consigning himself to fate, he asked, "So, who will my new tormenter be?"

"Well, she likes to go by the title Sailor Pluto."

"You really are an evil bastard," Eryn commented dryly.

Clay grinned as he nodded. "Yup. Ain't it great?"

Eryn sighed. "The universe despises me doesn't it?"

The boy's tormentor snorted before responding, his voice tinged with humor. "Well, I don't know the answer to that one, kid. But I can certainly say that I hate you."

Eryn massaged the bridge of his nose. "Bastard."

After a couple of quiet minutes had passed, the high school student asked, "So, what's going to happen to my life in the Nerima district?"

"Nothing much. I'll probably just reset things back to before you arrived and wait for the next gullible sap that'll sign one of our contracts."

Eryn nodded, accepting the fact oddly easily. "Oh, okay. So, who else is going to be in on this thing?"

Clay seemed to stop and think for a moment before responding. "Well, I suspect Mirus might use her little pawn, the Umikage girl. And Pluto might toss in some of her own pawns for whatever she has cooking. But other than that, I don't really know."

Interested, Eryn asked, "Who's Mirus?"

Clay gave Eryn a sidelong glance. "You really don't need to know that."

Eryn huffed. "Fine, whatever."

A few minutes later, the two pulled into a small garage that sat beside a decidedly out of place two story ranch style home.

The rest of the day for Eryn was pretty much one excruciatingly painful event after another. He thanked whatever gods might have been listening every time he blacked out.

))o((

Eryn stared balefully out of the car window. The trip to get to the meeting place was taking quite a long time. The teen was beginning to suspect they may have even jumped dimensions somewhere along their trip.

"Ah, we're here," Clay said suddenly, slamming on the brakes.

Eryn, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, flew forward. Thankfully, the windshield didn't break.

"Stop being such a baby," Clay said, shoving his project out of the car.

Eryn stumbled a moment before regaining equilibrium. They were at a large house, almost a mansion though not quite. There were three people waiting outside.

The first that Eryn noticed was, of course, the tall and somewhat voluptuous Sailor Pluto herself. She wasn't transformed, but Eryn could recognize the green-haired Senshi for what she was, even while wearing a business suit and glasses.

Standing next to the Sailor Senshi was a young... girl? Eryn couldn't be sure, but thought it was a girl. Nevertheless, she was quite short and had her arms crossed over her chest. She had short blue hair which only added to the appearance of masculinity. She was scowling and didn't look very happy.

The last was yet another girl, this one with loose red hair falling past her shoulders. If it weren't for the casual slacks, buttoned shirt, and different hairstyle, Eryn might have almost mistaken this girl for Ranma's female half. She was leaning casually against the doorframe of the open front door while watching the scene casually.

Clay was suddenly beside Eryn, pushing his charge forward. "Go on," he urged, "introduce yourself!"

"Who's this girl?" the blue-haired kid asked, revealing she was indeed a girl with her voice. "The last one?"

Eryn was, indeed, a girl. Just as Clay had promised, he had taken away the alternate personality that came with his Jusenkyo curse, Princess. Then he had locked Eryn in the body she had resided in. She was shorter than before, but still had the same long silver hair she had in her original body and gray eyes. She possessed a noticeably larger chest, as well. "Um, yeah." Eryn fumbled for words for a moment. "Ah, I'm Eryn Belmont. Nice to meet you all... I think."

"You think?" the redhead in the back asked with a smirk. "That's funny. Well, I'm Joey... call me Jo when I'm like this, though. According to the green-haired lady with a superiority complex, I'll be going by that the majority of the time."

The youngest girl went next. "My name's Kari. Kari Umikage. I'd say it's a pleasure, but it's really not." She looked off to the side. "I just want to get this whole mess over with."

Setsuna clapped her hands together. "Good, now you all know each other. Come on over, gather around."

The false cheerfulness unnerved Eryn and Jo somewhat as the two walked over to the Senshi of time. Kari, who was already next to the woman, simply looked over, not amused. None of them really noticed when Clay waved and drove off.

"So, what do you need from us?" Eryn asked somewhat fearfully.

"First things first," Setsuna said. She pulled out what appeared to be a henshin stick. Before anybody could ask any questions, she pulled back her arm and then shoved the wand into Eryn's forehead.

"What the hell?" the boy-turned-girl cried, stepping back. She had seen the wand sink into her own head. While she knew she could survive it, the lack of pain was somewhat odd. She didn't see, however, a strange symbol glowing on her forehead.

"Relax," Pluto's guardian remarked, "I was just synching the wand with your soul. Unlike normal Senshi, whose sticks are bonded to the soul from birth, these ones have nobody bonded to them. This is needed so you can become Senshi."

"Wait a minute," Eryn said, "back up. You mean we're all becoming Sailor Scouts?"

"Sailor Senshi," the woman corrected, "and yes."

"This ain't funny," the silver-tressed youth remarked.

Kari snorted. "Mirus left out that little detail." She paused for a moment. "Oh, well, I guess I can deal."

"Well, I guess it's not that important. Whatever helps us get the job done, right?" Jo shrugged, then added, a bit of flippancy and sarcasm evident in her voice, "I get to be a real magical girl now!"

Eryn looked over at the two. "I'm so glad you guys can accept it so quickly."

Setsuna repeated the process for Jo and Kari before stepping back. "Now pull out your henshin sticks and say the words that come to your mind."

"From where?" Jo asked sarcastically.

Kari scowled at the girl before pulling out her wand with a flourish. "I guess I'll go first, since you all seem too cowardly." Raising the wand into the air, she called out, "Bellona Crystal Power, Make Up!"

The transformation was as flashy as can be expected. A deep red sword, easily taller than the girl transforming, rose from the ground in front of her. The sword stayed there for a few moments before shattering into a myriad of red crystal shards. The shards spun around the girl once, shredding her clothing, before spinning around one more time. The second time around, the shards stuck to her skin and formed into a regular Senshi fuku with deep maroons as the color theme. A red choker with a garnet stone adorned the young girl's neck and knee-high white and maroon boots adorned her legs.

Kari looked down at herself once the transformation had finished. "I take it I'm Sailor Bellona?" She noticed Pluto nod. "Couldn't I get a more decent outfit, though?" She tugged at the hem of her skirt. "These show off my legs!"

"All of the Senshi uniforms do that," Setsuna replied. "You'll get used to it."

"I don't want to get used to it!" Kari whined pathetically. As much as she could seem all-business when she wanted to, some things still set her off.

Jo and Eryn looked from the newly-created Sailor Senshi to each other. After a bit, Jo sighed. "I'll go next," she said. "Might as well get this over with, right?"

"That's the spirit!" Setsuna said encouragingly.

Jo raised the henshin wand high. "Vulcan Crystal Power, Make Up!" Her transformation was much different than normal. The first thing that happened was that large metal objects fell from the sky, stopping as they floated in front of or behind the transforming girl. Her clothes slowly disappeared piece by piece and, as they did so, two pieces of metal would go forward from either side and form a piece of armor over Jo's skin where the clothing faded. After it was over and done with, Jo was left in a suit of armor looking exactly like a sailor fuku. Gradually the colors faded from silver to the white of the fuku body and the grays and black of the ribbons and skirt. Like the youngest of the group, Jo also now bore a choker, silver in color with a black star. Her shoes were typical low-top shoes, completely gray in color.

"That wasn't so bad," Jo said, looking herself over. "Outfit looks kind of dull, but since when did I care about fashion?" She smiled. "And I bet I get a ton of cool attacks now, too!"

All eyes turned expectantly to Eryn. The recently-turned girl looked nervous. "What? C'mon, I don't want to transform!"

"Get over yourself," Setsuna said harshly. "We need you to pull off this mission, so transform or I'll show you why my enemies tend to fear the wrath of Sailor Pluto."

Eryn sighed. "All right, all right. No need to resort to violence, I'll go." With a marked lack of enthusiasm, the girl held up her transformation catalyst, not even raising it above her head. "Klumu Crystal Power, Make Up."

Lacking eagerness or not, the transformation began. A large wedge of light, as tall as Eryn and shaped somewhat like a shield, appeared before her. The wedge suddenly transformed into a myriad of tendrils of light. In a flash, Eryn was unclothed, though the tendrils quickly wrapped around the girl's body, transforming into the clothing of a Senshi as they did. Once it was complete, the transformation left a bored-looking female Eryn, clad in a sailor fuku with a golden color scheme for the skirt and ribbons, a gold chain choker, and gold sandals.

"I look so dumb right now," the newly-dubbed Sailor Klumu sighed.

"Not any more than the rest of us," Jo put in happily, "except the sandals."

Eryn raised an eyebrow. "You know, that doesn't make me feel any better."

"Let us get a few things straight before we begin," Setsuna said, looking over at the new Senshi. "You're to keep your identities as Sailor Senshi completely private."

"Of course," was what Kari said, "we're not stupid."

Continuing as if she were uninterrupted, Setsuna said, "In addition, if you're ever to run into any of the other Senshi or anybody who knows of your identities, you MUST keep the method of your transformation secret. As far as any Senshi but myself is concerned, you're little-known Senshi that have been, until recently, in a different part of the country. We can't let it slip that you're not reincarnated Senshi, nor that you're all from different dimensions. The fact that you're actually guys is also to be kept secret. Is this clear?"

"Crystal," Eryn said as the other two nodded.

Pluto sighed. "Good." Looking at the three, she said sternly, "Now don't slip." She walked into the house. Turning behind her, she said, "Well, come on. Transform back to your civilian identities and follow me. We're picking up the last member of your group."

Kari and Jo nodded. Concentrating, their clothes shifted back to normal, a marked contrast to the sequences they transformed to.

"How'd you do that?" Eryn, or Sailor Klumu, asked.

Kari looked over at the girl. "Just concentrate, like you did when you pulled out the henshin wand."

Eryn, doing as instructed, turned back to normal. The three made their way into the house, following Setsuna. The woman led the way up a flight of stairs. It was still morning, so it didn't surprise anybody to hear snores as they passed one room. They continued down the hall, where Setsuna finally stopped. She rapped the door with the back of her hand. "Hotaru, dear?"

There was a shuffling sound from inside the room. After a moment, the door opened and a young girl's head appeared, peeking around the doorframe. She had medium-length black hair, messy like she had just woken up, and violet eyes. "What is it, Setsuna-mama?" After a few moments of blinking the sleep from her eyes, she noticed the three girls behind Setsuna as well. "And who are they?"

"We'll be having a meeting downstairs soon," Setsuna said. "Go get ready, Hotaru dear, and come downstairs when you're ready. I'll explain everything then."

Hotaru was silent a moment before responding with a nod and a "Yeah." She disappeared back into her room, the door shutting as she did.

Setsuna quietly turned and walked back to the room where the snores had been coming from. After she knocked, a woman with a head of wavy green hair answered. The snoring, however, continued. "What is it, Setsuna?" It was Sunday, so even Michiru was used to sleeping in.

Setsuna's reply was direct and simple. "Downstairs, we're having a meeting."

"Do I get to be introduced to these three friends of yours?" the woman asked with a smile.

"At the meeting," Setsuna responded. "Wake Haruka and meet us downstairs when you're both ready."

"All right." And with that, Michiru went back into her room. As Setsuna and the three new Senshi walked downstairs, they could hear Haruka's complaints at being woken up.

Setsuna took the group to a large table, three seats on each side and one on each end, in what they assumed to be the dining room. She, of course, took the seat at the head of the table. They took seats nearby, both Kari and Eryn next to the woman and Jo next to Eryn.

After a few moments of tapping the table, Eryn turned to the Senshi of time. "So, what exactly are we-?"

Setsuna cut the girl off. "I'll explain everything in full detail when everybody else arrives." She paused a moment before continuing. "It'd do you all well to remain silent for the duration of the speech and agree with everything I say."

"All right," Kari replied.

"Sounds fishy," Eryn muttered.

About ten minutes of silence passed before Michiru and Haruka entered. The first looked bright and cheerful while the latter looked half-dead, her short blond hair still considered bed hair. Michiru took the seat next to Jo, who she smiled as reassuringly, while Haruka took the seat next to her partner, the end of the table opposite Setsuna.

"So, what's up?" Haruka asked, yawning afterwards.

Setsuna's response was typical. "Everything will be explained when everybody is here."

"I hate it when you pull that act," the Senshi of Uranus responded sardonically. Nonetheless, she didn't ask anything else until Hotaru had shown up, taking the seat next to Kari. The black-haired girl smiled sheepishly as she sat down while Kari flashed the girl a peace sign. Hotaru giggled.

Setsuna cleared her throat. "All right, I suppose we can begin now."

"About time," Eryn mumbled rather loudly. He pointedly ignored the glare that Setsuna shot him, though it got a chuckle from both Jo and Haruka.

The elder green-haired woman continued. "I suppose introductions are in order. The silver-haired girl is known as Erin Belmont. To her right is Josephine." She continued to speak over Jo's gag. "The other young girl is Kari. Both Josephine," another pointed gag from Jo, "and Kari don't have last names."

Kari knew perfectly well that she did have a last name, but remained silent, just as instructed.

"Why is that?" Hotaru asked, looking at the two girls.

"Erased from their family registries," Setsuna said, responding for the two.

"And so why are they here?" Haruka asked.

Setsuna cleared her throat. Here came the big lies. "It appears that these three are Sailor Senshi." She allowed the three other Outer Senshi to gasp before she continued. "There were planets in this Solar System that disappeared before or during the Silver Millenium. I had thought the Senshi of those planets gone forever, but apparently these three have been busy combating crime in..." She paused, trying to recall what Mirus had said Kari had been from. "...Sendai."

"So you recruited them to come here?" Michiru inquired. "To stick closer to the princess?"

"Close," Setsuna replied. "While I did recruit them to our cause, they're not going to stay here for very long." She looked over her three housemates. "It so happens that another enemy has come to my attention."

"I thought Galaxia was the final threat," Haruka muttered.

"She was the final threat for the Inner Scouts," Setsuna replied, "or at least the final major threat. However, we'll still be here to take out the minor threats." She turned her head to the trio of new Senshi, who were all sweating. "These three, along with Hotaru, will be taking care of this threat."

"Hotaru?" Michiru inquired while Haruka shouted the same thing.

"Me?" Hotaru added quietly.

Setsuna nodded. "It happens this threat is on a large, somewhat secluded school campus. While I could send you two as well to the local high school, I felt it better fit our needs to transfer the Senshi into the same class. It's been arranged with the dean to have the four transferred into the same class a the campus all-girl's junior high school." She was silent a moment. "Besides, we are needed here to combat the threat of minor demons that might come forth."

"Why do you need Hotaru?" Haruka snapped.

Setsuna replied quickly. "One is the most we can spare. And I explained why I chose her over one of us." She calmly stared down the blonde Senshi. "Unless you lack faith in the skills of your daughter?"

Before Haruka could reply, Hotaru spoke up. "It's all right, Haruka-papa." She looked determined. "I'll do it."

Haruka couldn't respond to that.

"Now that we're clear," Setsuna began, "I can continue." She cleared her throat. "To enroll them into this school, I need last names for Kari and Josephine." Another gag from "Josephine" came, which Setsuna resolutely ignored. "I've taken the trouble of enrolling Kari under the guise of Kari Meiou, using my own last name. I was hoping I could do the same with Josephine using you last name, Haruka."

A few grumbles, but it was confirmed that Jo was to be known as Josephine Ten'ou.

"Their mission is simple to explain, though vastly more difficult to pull off." Setsuna sighed. "You four have to investigate the campus. There is somebody there, an evil force, that can disguise its presence superbly well. This force is likely masquerading as a student, though a staff member is also possible. You must find who it is and stop them."

"Easier said than done," Jo responded. "Especially if it can be anybody on campus."

"You'll have to carefully investigate," Setsuna replied. "You must find out who are hiding things, who have odd powers, or who act suspiciously. Then you must uncover what secrets they hide until you finally find the one you're searching for."

"That could take months," Eryn said with exasperation. "Or even a year!"

"It's quite possible," Setsuna replied. "I never said it'd be easy."

"Please," Kari remarked, "with me there it'll take two weeks, tops."

The rest of the time was spent going over necessary details and, eventually, breakfast was served as well.

Haruka and Michiru, eager to spend the day with their daughter, who would be leaving tomorrow, went out. The trio of new Senshi were dragged along, as Haruka and Michiru wanted to get to know the three they'd be sending their daughter off with. It was an exhausting day, and they gratefully took the offered guest rooms when they arrived back at the home of the Outer Senshi

The next morning would be the first of their mission. They'd need that sleep.

))o((

The next morning saw Setsuna and the four undercover Senshi at the Mahora campus. Setsuna walked with purpose, leading the four. Most of the gathering students avoided the group, while the other four tried not to gape at the vast European-style campus. The architecture and size of everything was beyond impressive.

Eventually they arrived at a place labeled as "Mahora Junior High" on the wall surrounding the school. Setsuna led them purposefully into the building, heading straight to where she needed to go. At a room labeled as the dean's office, she entered without so much as a knock.

An old, wizened figure sat behind the desk. Mostly bald, what little whitened hair he did have was extravagantly long and held back in a ponytail. His bear, too, was quite long. Despite his obvious age, he gave a youthful smile as Setsuna entered, the four girls trailing behind her. "Ah, Setsuna my dear," he said with a wide grin, "it's been so long. You really must stop by for a game of go every once in a while."

"Perhaps I'll play a game or two as I check these girls' progress in the future," Setsuna replied gracefully. "But, as for now, have all the preparations been made?"

The dean nodded. "Yes, yes. I've enrolled the four into Negi's class." He looked over the gathered four. "Now, I believe one is your adopted daughter... one is masquerading as your real daughter... one is masquerading as Haruka's sister... and the final has no relation, real or perceived."

"That's correct," Setsuna responded. With a motion to Hotaru, she said, "This is my adopted daughter. The blue-haired child shall pretend to be my true daughter. Josephine," the gag gave away who that was, "shall pretend to be our housemate and Haruka's sister. Erin, finally, is a friend of the family."

"I see, I see." The dean made some notes on some forms. Quickly he spread four papers on the desk. "I'll need a signature from all of you. Remember to sign in your fake last name, if you were given one."

"Well, I suppose somebody higher-up had to be in on this," Kari muttered. She and Hotaru quickly signed theirs, while Jo took a bit longer.

"Josephine," she muttered, "why Josephine?" Nonetheless, she signed as well.

Eryn was last. She had noticed something... off. "My name is spelled with a 'Y'," she stated, "not an 'I'."

"Get used to it," Setsuna said, shooting the girl a glare. "You have a girl's name, not a boy's name."

"It works for both," the newly-christened Erin muttered. Still, she signed her paper and handed it back to the dean.

He old man handed Hotaru a map. "Here, this is a map of campus." Hotaru began looking it over, Kari checking it out over the girl's shoulder. "You'll be staying the junior high girl's dormitory. Your room number is 510. A key can be provided at the front counter for any of you."

"We're all in one room?" Kari inquired.

The dean nodded. "Usually we try to keep it to two or three per room, but, while I am dean, I can't make any exceptions to the rules for you four. It's needed to be this way so you can work together at nights and, if necessary, sneak out together without alerting anybody else. If I gave you the privilege to do this at will, it would, of course, immediately arouse suspicion in whoever our evildoer is."

Setsuna glanced at the clock. "You'd best be on your way," she said. "It's nearing the beginning of class."

The old man nodded. "Indeed. Your class number is 2-A. Good luck."

))o((

Negi coughed to get the class's attention. However, no one seemed to hear him, and as such the class continued to talk amongst itself. The novelty of having a ten year-old teacher had begun to wear off and the young boy found that his class was paying him less mind than they once had.

Negi coughed again, this time louder. Once again, he seemed to either be not heard, or possibly ignored by a majority of the class. Even Ayaka, the class president, seemed to not hear him. He usually relied on her to calm the class down...

Sighing, Negi reached under his desk and pulled out his last resort for this type of situation.

**_BAWOOOOGAH_!**

The air horn got everyone's attention.

Pleased with the result, Negi began. "Well, it seems today we have a bit of a surprise. The principal has informed me that we have four new transfer students that should be arriving today."

As if on cue, the young boy with a short ponytail heard a knock at the classroom door.

Quickly making his way to the door, he walked out, shutting the door behind him. He immediately noticed the tall, busty woman with long light green hair and glasses. She was Shizuna Minamoto, who often helped him, especially back when he first began teaching. Looking up at her, he distinctly noticed what he assumed were the new transfer students behind her.

Shizuna smiled down at Negi. Handing him a small clipboard, she said, "Here's the information on the new students. The principal also told me to inform you that you should probably assign one of your other students to guide them around school and the dorms for the day."

Negi nodded as he adjusted his professor-style glasses. Turning towards the girls as Shizuna made her way back towards the dean's office, he gave them one of his cutest smiles. "Hello. I'm glad to hear that I'll have all of you in my class."

Two of the girls seemed to ignore him, apparently wrapped in there own thoughts, while the younger of the four both smiled back at him. They seemed taken aback at having a ten year-old introduce himself as their teacher, but they took it in stride.

Looking back towards the door, Negi said, "Well, I'm going to go prepare the class to meet you, I'll call for you when everything's ready, alright?"

Not waiting for an answer, Negi headed back inside the class, quickly reassuming his position behind his desk. Looking at the girls in his class, he began. "Well it appears they're here already. Anyway, I'd be happy if you gave them all a big Mahora Academy welcome and if you all tried your best to make them feel comfortable."

"Yeah, yeah," a girl with long orange hair in two ponytails muttered.

Turning towards the door, the young teacher called out, "Umm, you can come in now!"

Quickly, the four filed into the room. Now that he could see her better, Negi thought to himself, that if it weren't a girl's school he was teaching at, the shortest of the group could almost be mistaken for a boy.

After quickly glancing at the clipboard Shizuna had supplied him with, Negi began, pointing as he said each name. "Class, I'd like you to meet Erin Isis Belmont. She apparently hails from America, though has off and on lived in various parts of Europe. Most recently she stayed in Sendai before transferring here."

The young silver-tressed girl barely nodded in acknowledgement, her mind obviously elsewhere.

"The next girl is named Jose..."

The redhead interrupted, "That's Jo. Say anymore and you'll be in for a whopping."

Negi coughed, " Uhh... Jo it is then. Well, her name is Jo Rai Ten'ou, she hails from... well, this says all over Japan and various other countries."

Looking around, he continued after an awkward moment, "The third girl is named Kari Meiou. She hails from Sendai."

Kari stuck two of her fingers up in a peace gesture. "Yo."

Looking at the final girl, Negi finished, "And lastly we have Hotaru Tomoe, who hails from the Juuban district of Tokyo."

Hotaru gave a small curtsy.

Looking at the girls, he commented, "Well, if you'd like, I'm sure the class would be happy to hear a little more about each of you."

Neither Jo nor Erin seemed overly fond of divulging information about themselves.

Kari rolled her eyes at her two new companions before starting. "Fine, then I'll go. I'm Kari Meiou. I like swimming and playing go, and I'm fourteen."

Hotaru bit her lip, but after a moment followed Kari's example. "I'm Hotaru Tomoe, I... I want to be a doctor, and I'm fourteen."

Kari elbowed Jo, the closer of her two silent companions.

After about twelve more elbows, Jo finally gave in. "Fine then, I'll talk. I'm Jo Ten'ou, I practice an odd form of kendo, and I'm," she paused as she remembered the fake age she had been provided with, "fifteen."

"That isn't the chest of a fifteen year-old," another redhead, sitting near the front, muttered.

After Jo had finished, everyone seemed to be staring at Erin.

After about a handful of minutes had passed, she gave in as well. "I'm Erin Belmont, I prefer not to fight, and I'm fifteen."

Negi nodded. "Good, thank you all for those nice introductions." Scanning the class, the ten year-old teacher asked, "Ms. Ayase, after class, could you please show the new girls around the school and then to the dorms?"

Yue simply nodded.

"Well, anyway, the principal had a new table brought in, so three of you will have to share it. So... hmm... Erin, can you please go and take the seat beside Ms. McDowell? Evangeline, would you please raise your hand?"

Spotting the small hand, Erin walked towards the back while the other three took up the new table, finding themselves only slightly crowded.

With that, Negi began the day's lesson.

Evangeline looked up at Erin as she took her newly assigned seat, irritation apparent in the smaller girl's eyes.

Erin looked down at Evangeline. Just as short, underdeveloped, and young-looking as Kari was, though the long blond hair kept the appearance of being feminine. Erin sighed, mumbling to herself, "Damn, I still get stuck babysitting."

Evangeline gritted her teeth. "What was that?"

Erin sighed. "Nothing, little girl."

Evangeline's blue eyes grew large. Erin almost thought she saw flames floating around them. "What did you just call me?"

Erin gulped, though she honestly wasn't sure why. Choosing the better part of valor, she responded, "Umm, nothing, Ms. McDowell." Erin soon found her face imbedded in her new table, a oversized book resting on top of it.

Evangeline simply leaned back in her chair and grinned, examining the girl as she attempted to remove her head.

Over on the other side of the room, things were only going slightly better as Kari and Hotaru were finding it somewhat hard to listen to the lesson over Jo's snoring.

Negi turned around, spotting Erin and Jo. Both apparently sleeping, too. He sighed. "Somebody please wake up Ms. Belmont and Ms. Ten'ou and please tell them to go out into the halls."

Kari sighed. Glancing at the two the teacher had chastised, she briefly wondered how they could all blend in among ordinary girls like the ones in this class. Only time would tell.

))o((

I. _Finis_

))o((

Two series feature prominent role in this work of fan-created fiction. Sailor Moon and Mahou Sensei Negima are both copyrighted to their respectful creators and distributors. The same applies for both other series mentioned, though neither were delved into; Yakitate! Japan and Ranma One-Half.


	2. Raptus Regaliter

))o((

_Lore_

II. Raptus Regaliter

))o((

Sighing for what seemed the millionth time, Yue continued with the tour, ignoring the fact that those she was giving to the tour to didn't really seem to be paying attention. The girl was short and underdeveloped for her age, with blue hair a darker shade than Kari's and many times longer. "This is Library Island," she said, leading them inside a giant facility. "We junior high students are only allowed in the main area of the first floor."

Erin was glaring at Kari as they entered. "Midget."

The short girl was glaring right back. "Witch!"

"Flat-chested midget." Erin's voice was irritated.

"Foul-smelling witch!" Kari's voice was angry.

"Flat-chested, unskilled midget."

"Foul-smelling witch with loose morals!"

"...Flat-chested, unskilled midget who will never find love."

Hotaru's voice broke their argument for a moment. "Ca-Can't we all just get along?"

Jo turned to the girl, a placating smile on her face. "Well, seeing the way those two have been acting since class ended... I'd have to say no."

Kari hadn't even heard the other girl. "Who are you calling a violent psychopathic little midget girl so short you need a magnifying glass to see with no chest or figure to boot and that'll never be able to find love because even guys think there's not enough figure?" she shouted, enraged. Clearly the insult had undergone some changes in her mind.

Erin muttered, in her native English, "You apparently."

Kari blinked, confusion momentarily replacing anger. "Why are you insulting Yue? She's been nothing but kind to us! She's taking time out of her own day to give us this tour!" She pointed at Erin dramatically. "Show some respect!"

The silver-haired girl sighed. "I meant Y-O-U, not Y-U-E."

Kari looked to the side. "Oh..." Silence. "Bastard."

Erin, too, was silent for a moment. "Harpy."

"Witch!" came Kari's immediate retort.

"Skank!"

Yue turned around, quickly leading them out of the building before the librarian could beat her to it. She practically lived there, she didn't want to be banned from the library.

Quickly, she led them to the gymnasium, where a game of pick up basketball was going on. "This is the junior high division's exclusive gym. We have over twenty-two fitness related clubs, including, but not limited to, the walking club, the basketball club, the rhythmic gymnastics team, the swim team, and the Chinese martial arts group."

"Vicious little midget brat!" Erin's tone had become one of anger.

Kari's was cooler this time. "Skank."

"Ugly little vicious midget brat!"

"Dumb skank."

"Ugly little vicious midget brat that'll open her legs for anyone!"

Asuna had been about to walk up and greet the group when the latest of the string of shouts rang out. She was a girl with orange hair tied into two long pigtails, her hair tied with two bells and strings. After a few moments had passed, giving the girl enough time to swallow what the girl had just yelled, she walked over to Yue, keeping her distance from the other girls in the group. Whispering, she asked, "Rowdy bunch, I take it?"

Yue shrugged, replying neutrally, "I guess."

"You want to join us?" Erin asked, looking over to Asuna. Apparently she had overheard the comment. Weird blue-and-green eyed girl, she'd rip into her just as easily as she did to the midget.

Asuna rolled her eyes and started to walk off. "I'd rather not. You just get back to that argument with your blue-haired friend."

Kari felt obliged to help. "Yeah, you ugly, dumb, creepy skank."

Yue sighed, continuing the tour through a set of double doors. She pointed towards an Olympic sized swimming pool and began, "This is the gym's pool."

Kari quickly forgot about the argument. "A pool! Awesome!"

Jo had to hold Kari back by her shoulders, fearing the girl might jump in with her uniform still on... or possibly worse; take her uniform off and jump in while still only wearing her skivvies.

Erin snorted. "Immature midget."

Kari turned around, the pool all but forgotten. "Care to repeat that, you stupid hag?"

Yue grumbled under her breath before sighing and continuing the tour once again. As the group walked, the girl began to tally up just how much Negi was going to owe her for this one. Soon enough, the group reached the outdoor athletic field. Vaguely pointing towards different odd areas, she continued. "This is the junior high athletic field. We have so many athletic clubs that it's usually quite crowded and quite noisy out her. Clubs seem to be always scrambling for court space."

Jo watched in awe as a young girl fought off seven attackers, all armed with bokkens, shinai, and other odd practice equipment, while all she had was her own two hands.

Hotaru flinched as she saw another girl scrape the side of her leg hard against a nearby tennis court while diving to catch the birdie.

Kari was watching the cheerleaders. She had her priorities, after all.

Erin was too busy attempting to think of new insults to care about what was going on around her.

A quick trip to the World Tree later and Kari and Erin finally got into a literal fight. It could perhaps better be described as a beating, though, as Kari had beaten Erin up for a little under half a minute before the other girl got knocked out.

Jo carried Erin awkwardly on her back as Yue led them to the dorms, glad that the tour was just about over.

After the redhead laid Erin down on a couch in one of the dorm's lounge rooms, Yue showed the girls around the dorm. They saw the locations of the fire escapes, the overly large bathroom, their dorm room, and where Yue's own room was located. After it was all done, Yue finally dropped the group off in the lounge they had left Erin at.

Jo smiled. Hands behind her head, she idly commented. "You know what would have made that tour better?"

Kari smirked. "Me beating down Erin before she made that diaper joke?"

Jo shook her head. "Nope. Popcorn. You and Erin are better than anime."

Kari wasn't sure whether or not she should beat down Jo as well.

))o((

"So this is our room," Jo said, arms behind her head as she surveyed the room. Moderately sized, with a single bunk bed. There was a small loft to the right, where two more futons were rolled up, though there wasn't enough room for two to sleep there, barely enough for one.

It was getting into the evening. After waiting for Erin to come to and more exploring of campus, the four had decided to finally see their own room.

"I claim the loft," Kari said quickly. She jumped up onto the wooden platform and threw one of the futons off the side. "Problems?"

Hotaru blinked at the display of agility.

"I claim the top bunk, then," Jo mentioned, looking up at the bunk (now hers.)

"And I'll take the bottom!" Hotaru mentioned happily. The Senshi of Saturn liked the bottom bunk, anyway.

Erin blinked. Unhappily, she muttered, "And that leaves me what? The floor?"

"There's a couch," Kari replied.

Erin looked at the couch. It was a dilapidated thing that was losing all its stuffing and, considering its age, was probably a fire hazard. "I'll take the floor." She grumbled some more as she pulled out the futon.

Jo looked over at Erin. Feeling a sudden pang of sympathy, she muttered, "You have the top. I'll take the floor."

Erin shook her head. "Nah. The floor suits me better."

"You don't have to suck it up," Kari said from up on her loft. "Nobody'll think any less of you. Except maybe me."

Erin pointedly ignored the young girl.

"Now where's the stuff Pluto promised to send?" Jo asked. "She'd better have bought me a lot of stuff, considering she wouldn't let me bring anything of my own..." Well, she supposed none of it was really hers, but that wasn't the point. Setsuna had promised to get the three out-of-place girls all they'd need, as well as bringing all of Hotaru's things to their room.

"It's up here," Kari replied. Indeed, up on the loft were four cardboard boxes. One was labeled for each of them; Kari, Hotaru, Erin, and Josephine. She quickly opened her own box.

The first thing the ninja-turned-Senshi noticed was a box. A box of pads.

Blushing, Kari's voice rose as she spoke. "What the hell is this?" She chucked the box over her shoulder and off the loft.

The box, predictably, hit Erin on the head. Rubbing her head, irritated, the silver-haired girl shot Kari a glare. "What was that for?" She picked up the box, curious to see what it was... then dropped it, suddenly pale. She had never considered... never wanted to consider...

She briefly considered suicide.

Hotaru picked up the box, wondering about the strange actions of the other girls. Realization dawned. "Oh. Do you use tampons?"

Kari stuttered a moment, turning to gaze in horror at the girl.

Erin looked down at the ground and shook her head, ridding herself of evil thoughts. Evil, evil thoughts.

In an attempt to ease her mind, Kari looked through the rest of the box. It shocked her... Who did Setsuna think she was? There were clothes, all right. Pink clothes. Some purple clothes. One set of green. Nothing she'd really wear. "Oh, for the love of all that is holy, somebody tell me this isn't all she got." For crying out loud, half of them were skirts!

"Don't hog them to yourself," Jo called up, intending to tease the ninja. She briefly contemplated the possibility of wearing a kilt... it _would_ solve the clothing issue for somebody with her curse...

"Whatever," Kari said. She tossed Jo and Erin's boxes over the side, completely ignoring their cries of protest, even when Erin's box opened upon landing, spilling the contents all over the floor. Hotaru's, however, she gently picked up and brought down to the girl herself.

"Thank you," Hotaru said with a smile.

"For nothing," Erin added, picking up her stuff. Thankfully, it appeared her clothes were less... girly. The yellow and gold outfits were slightly off-putting, but she'd take what she was given.

As the girls began packing away their stuff, Hotaru tried to discuss their mission. "So did you guys find anybody suspicious?"

"Evangeline," Erin replied immediately.

Hotaru seemed surprised. "Why do say that? She seemed nice enough."

"Nice enough?" the silver-haired girl spat back. "She bloody put my head through a desk! Little girls like her shouldn't be that strong, or violent. Definitely something odd about her."

"If you go by that logic, then Kari is also a prime suspect," Jo felt the need to point out.

Kari, who had been packing away her clothes next to the redhead, slammed her elbow into the girl's gut. "What was that?"

"Nothing... I was just remarking that if unexpected strangeness is supposed to be our key indicator, you'd be a prime suspect." Jo had been around violent, uncute tomboys, like Akane Tendo, long enough to have _some_ skill in defusing the situation.

Kari shot him a suspicious glare, but nonetheless let him off. "I'm more suspicious of our homeroom teacher," she put in. "I mean, ten years old and teaching? I know child geniuses exist, but it's still suspicious."

Hotaru was silent a moment. "I... I don't think anybody's that suspicious yet." She smiled, looking up. "But I'll work hard and figure it out, though!"

"So what are your plans for tomorrow, Hotaru?" Kari asked as she finished packing away her stuff, sans the... little present Setsuna had left on the top of her box. Erin could keep those for all she cared.

"Well..." Hotaru was silent a moment. "I was talking to one of our classmates... Ako? The girl with short blue hair like yours, Kari."

"I know who you're talking about," Kari replied.

"She's an aide in the nurse's office. I was thinking of seeing if I could help out, too."

"That's a good idea," Jo replied. "We should probably join some school clubs to establish contacts and get closer to some of the students." To keep herself from sounding too serious, she tacked on at the end, "And besides, it'd be dead boring otherwise."

Kari briefly considered what clubs to join. Well, there was only one she'd be interested in anyway... She imagined the go board in front of her. She held up her hand, imagine a smooth black stone in it. Only one club indeed.

"Well, it's been a long day," Hotaru said with a yawn. Even after the grand tour had been finished, there was a lot left out simply due to the large size of campus, so the four had taken it upon themselves to make their way around with only the map as their guide. The young girl wasn't used to walking for such long periods of time, and the campus was absolutely huge.

"I guess so..." Jo scratched the back of her head. Being fairly close to an insomniac wasn't the best of things at times. The headmaster had mentioned about sneaking out at night to investigate...

Hotaru pulled off her shirt. "Then I guess it's time to get ready for bed."

The other three all reacted quickly. Kari's eyes widened. Erin quickly covered her nose. Jo turned her head away and began sorting through her box.

"I-I think I'd better go patrol campus," the youngest in the group said, suddenly appearing next to the door. "Got to make sure nothing comes up!"

Jo nodded, quickly making her way out of the room behind Kari. "Right. You get some sleep, Hotaru! Don't wait up for us!"

Erin hoped her hand was covering the blood leaking from her nose. "Um, um... I'm going too." She quickly beat her retreat as well.

Hotaru paused as she pulled on her pajama top. "I wonder what their problem was."

))o((

The next day saw three very exhausted girls in class. Late night investigating brought up nothing new, but did leave Erin and Kari very, very tired... Jo seemed to be in better shape, but even she seemed on the drowsy side. It was all Hotaru's fault, though... Kari fixed the young girl with a glare before her eyelids refused to cooperate any longer.

Jo and Erin, too, were shortly asleep. Hotaru tried in vain to wake Kari and Jo while Evangeline simply fixed the back of Erin's head with a glare.

As they entered second period, however, they found their teacher was not so forgiving. Three erasers pegged three heads and all sleeping students woke up.

"Eh?" Erin mumbled incoherently. She blinked. "Whatcha want?"

The teacher blinked, then laughed. "Sorry about waking you up from your nap, Erin." Looking at the other two, he added, "You too, Kari. Jo." He was their math teacher, Yukio D. Akatsuki, and seemed friendly enough so far. He had short black hair, slicked back, and a pair of glasses constantly in danger of falling off.

Their class representative, Ayaka, a girl with very long blond hair, turned back from her seat in front of the classroom. "You three!" she scolded. "Don't fall asleep during Mr. Akatsuki's class!"

"Will do, chief," Kari muttered, right before collapsing on her table once more.

Mr. Akatsuki shook his head. "Well, I guess she must've had a hard time sleeping with all the excitement of her first day."

Jo and Erin exchanged meaningful glances. "Something like that," Erin replied.

The girl at Erin's table raised an eyebrow while Hotaru looked confused.

"Nevertheless..." Mr. Akatsuki seemed to consider something for a moment. "Never mind. I guess it's all right, just this once." He turned back to the board, continuing the mathematics equation he was going over.

Erin and Jo did manage to stay awake, if not fully aware of their surroundings, for the rest of class. Kari simply dozed away.

In the center of class, a certain tanned Chinese blonde noted the young girl's behavior. It was almost befitting a Baka Ranger. Best to keep an eye on her.

))o((

It was after class and Kari was feeling quite refreshed. A good day's sleep could do that for a girl.

She looked up as she approached a room in the school building. It was classroom 3-C. Used by students a year ahead of her, it was now home to something else. After school, it became the room for that which Kari desired most.

Kari slammed open the door. Several girls stopped their games, looking up from their boards with white and black stones to notice the new arrival. The young blue-haired girl strode in confidently.

The go club at Mahora was a lot different than back at Furinkan. For one thing, it wasn't stuck in a chemistry lab. For another, it had more players, at least a full dozen. It was reminding Kari more of her brief experience in the shougi club as opposed to the go club.

"This is a nice club you got here," the girl said. "Better than back where I come from."

The other club members looked at her for a moment. "Would you be interested in joining?" one of them asked.

Kari recognized the speaker as a girl in her class... Long, light green hair wasn't the girl's strangest attribute. With two large metallic ears jutting from her head and obviously robotic joints, she was definitely cause for concern... Well, if her classmates didn't care, then Kari didn't care. She doubted some mad scientist's love-child was the force of great evil... she was looking for a bastard of magic, not science.

"Yeah," the blue-haired replied to the question, "I want to join."

The robot was about to speak, but another girl cut her off. "If you want to join, how about a friendly match first?"

"Are you sure, master?" the robot inquired.

"It's fine, Chachamaru."

Kari looked the other girl over. "Evangeline McDowell, right?" Seeing the young blonde nod, Kari continued. "You sit next to my..." Friend didn't seem like the right word. "...roommate."

Evangeline nodded. "So? Are you up to a match?" She narrowed her eyes. "I won't be offended if you're too afraid."

"It's just a game of go," Kari responded, "and I'm always up for a game." She narrowed her eyes at the girl as they searched for an empty board. She wasn't liking this girl's attitude.

"Here we go," Evangeline said, taking a seat at an empty board. As Kari took the seat across from her, she began, "So, how does a nine stone handicap sound?"

"I suppose I can give you at least that much," the blue-haired girl replied.

Evangeline scowled as she placed a stone down.

))o((

Jo smirked, looking at the small sign beside the bungalow. She knew she was at the right place, and she knew they couldn't possibly have anyone on par with her.

After a few moments of fantasizing about how she'd impress the other girls, she was finally brought back to reality by a slight cough from behind her.

Turning around, she spotted the source of the cough; a young and, in her opinion, rather cute raven-haired girl. Putting on her most charming smile, Jo asked, "Is this the kendo club?"

The girl shook her head. "No, this is the Japanese fencing club. We don't have a junior high kendo club. Would you like to apply to join our club?"

Jo nodded. "Hmm... Wait, isn't that the same thing?"

Setsuna nodded. "Basically, yes. But the club coach insists on calling it Japanese fencing."

Jo nodded, glad to know she hadn't been wrong. "Then yeah, I'd like to apply for this club of yours."

Before Setsuna could respond to Jo's statement, a sudden realization hit Jo like a ton of bricks. "Hey, aren't you in my class?"

The girl nodded once again. "Yes, my name is Setsuna Sakurazaki. I believe yours is Jo? Correct?"

Jo felt a brief shiver run up her spine before she finally responded with another nod.

"Good. Then let's go in, I'm sure our coach would be glad to meet you."

Following Setsuna inside, Jo couldn't help but look around. She was surprised by how few students were in the club, or at least in the club that day. By her count there were only five, not counting herself, Setsuna, and the older male that sat against the far corner, who she assumed was the coach.

Jo watched as Setsuna poked the older man once with her bokken.

He was completely unresponsive.

She tried again.

He didn't so much as twitch.

She tried a third time and the only result was a small snore emitting from the old man as his head shifted.

Sighing, Setsuna quickly cracked her knuckles before hefting the bokken and slamming it upside the older man's head.

Hearing the older man emit a string of curses as he pulled his head out from in between a nearby stack of mats, Jo was rather sure he was finally awake and aware. Looking up, the man appeared as if he was about to continue cursing until he seemed to notice Jo.

He seemed to suddenly appear in front of her, shaking her hand that she didn't remember thrusting out. Smiling, he quickly stated. "Hello, it is a great pleasure to meet you. Are you a new applicant here? What am I saying, of course you're a new applicant. Well, my new friend and student, is there anything I can do for you?"

Jo blinked. "Well...you could start by telling me your name..."

The older mans hand smacked against his head. "Oh, d'oh. Well, sorry, I must have forgotten my manners in my rush to greet such an obviously talented one such as yourself."

A few silent seconds passed before Jo commented. "You still haven't given me your name."

The older man blinked once, twice, three times before laughing and responding, "D'oh on me again. My names Shinataka Kozue, but you can call me Coach Kozue, or Coach K if your prefer."

Jo nodded. Looking back at the rest of club, she asked, "Shouldn't I be tested or something before you accept me for membership?"

Kozue seemed almost taken aback by the comment. "Hell no, we're barely able to make a decent showing at tournaments as it is. If we refused or forced something as stupid as a membership test on anyone interested in the club, we'd never have any members."

Jo half-smiled, though she had to admit, she was a little down not being able to astonish her new team mates with her fighting prowess. "Oh, okay, cool I guess."

Turning to Setsuna, Kozue asked, "Hey, could you take the new girl and get her the proper equipment from the supply shack?"

Setsuna nodded, and the two girls were off.

As they walked through the Mahora campus, Jo turned to Setsuna and asked, "So, what style of kendo do you practice? Or do you just do the straight-laced stuff?"

Setsuna turned to Jo, a serious look on her face. "Sorry, but that's a secret I can't divulge to someone I just met."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."

Setsuna sighed to herself.

After a half a dozen more minutes, they reached a small, out of the way wooden shack. Turning to Jo, Setsuna said, "This is where the kendo supplies are kept. And this is where we're going to get your equipment, alright?"

Jo nodded, still a little peeved at the girl's closed nature.

Setsuna retrieved a set of keys from her pocket. Quickly finding the one she needed, she unlocked the door and speedily retrieved all the equipment necessary, handing them to Jo piece by piece. Finally, she pulled out a large, old, beaten up brown bag out and stated, "This is your club issue bag. It's where you are to keep all your equipment when not using it, at the end of the semester it has to be turned in along with your equipment, okay?"

Jo nodded, not really capable of doing anything else as she attempted to shift the mountain of stuff so that she could begin placing it in the bag.

Setsuna nodded, the slight hint of a smile on the edges of her lips she responded. "Good, then let's get back to club before it lets out."

))o((

"Ayiyiyi... This is what makes an old man's bones ache."

Shizuna blinked, her mind drawn away from the paperwork she had been doing. "Hmmm? Is something wrong?"

"Yes... No...Well, it's just these new students. Their case really gets to me." The principal sighed.

Shizuna smiled. "How so?"

The principal massaged his temples before he began. "Ah, well there are a lot of reasons. Well, first, you may not have noticed, but they happen to be packing an over-excessive amount of power. And honestly, Setsuna did a very slipshod job hiding it."

Shizuna nodded, understanding evident on her face as she waited for him to continue.

"Secondly," the old man sighed, "I'm worried about how they'll interact with some of the other powerful people here... and how those people will react to them. And then there's Negi and Evangeline... I'm worried about what both will think if they discover these girls' true purpose here, and the fact that they have both been kept in the dark."

Shizuna bit her lip at that. "Perhaps you could rectify that. It's not too late to tell them, you know."

The principal shook his head. "No... There is always the slim possibility that this dark entity has some connection to them, as horrific as that would be... plus it'd be much too troublesome for me. No, I find it better to leave Negi and Evangeline out of the loop on this for now."

Shizuna sighed. The old man was getting stubborn again.

Without prompting, the old man continued. "Also, I'm a bit worried because, from what I could tell, I think Setsuna just might have slipped a real magic user under our radar. I'm not completely sure which of the kids it could be, but I'm pretty sure one of them is..."

Scratching the side of her head, Shizuna was unsure what to say to that. If Setsuna had indeed done that, it could cause quite a few problems in the future.

"Lastly, there is the infiltrator. I have no clue who or what it could be, and barely an idea as to what his or her plans could be. I believe Setsuna was holding back information... hmm, but then again, when isn't she doing that?" The principal finished the statement with an overstated sigh.

Shaking her head, Shizuna couldn't think of a lick of advice to give the old man. A lot of these problems he had pretty much either brought on himself or were out of her control.

The principal looked up at her with a slightly lecherous grin. "Can I have a hug?"

Shizuna shook her head, and rolled her eyes.

))o((

Erin ran through the halls of Mahora Junior High. She only had about ten minutes to make it to the final club she had planned to join.

Turning a corner, her head impacted on something, causing her and whatever it was to fall and roll a short distance.

Blinking, Erin looked down, spotting the "object" she had hit... which, as it turned out, was a now-dazed Hotaru.

Erin's eyes nearly bugged out. Jumping off the girl, she half worried whether she had seriously injured the girl. She remembered from the anime that Hotaru wasn't the healthiest scout in the world.

She was relieved when the girl seemed to come out of her daze and look up at Erin. Turning her head to the side as she sat up, she asked kindly, "What happened? And why am I on the floor?"

Erin gulped, before responding hesitantly, "Well... you see... I was in a bit of a hurry, and wasn't watching where I was going and, well, when I turned a corner, there you were and boom... we collided..."

Hotaru blinked. "Oh, okay... Where were you going in such a hurry, if I may ask?"

Erin had to hold back a laugh at the irony as she responded, "The walking club..."

Hotaru tried to hold it back, but was giggling within seconds, Erin soon following suite.

As they both got themselves under control, Hotaru tapped her chin before asking, "Hey, do you mind if I tag along? To join the walking club I mean."

Erin shrugged. "Doesn't bother me in the least. It'd be nice to have someone who I plan to become friends with joining with me."

Looking down at his watch, Erin's eyes bugged out for the second time that day. "Whoa! We'd better run if we plan on joining, it's about to end!" Erin grabbed the younger girl by the hand and rushed down the hall, Hotaru nearly flying behind her.

The duo made it, but only with a minute and a half to spare. Looking around, Erin was relieved to see the three members she had heard about still there. Knocking on the open door, she asked, "Hey, are you guy's accepting new members?"

Kaede turned around, placing her backpack back in the seat she had only seconds ago pulled it out of. Looking at the two girls standing in the doorway, she nodded slightly. "Yes. If you want to join, we'd be glad to have you, that we would."

Erin and Hotaru nodded as one. Looking at the three girls she commented, "From what I heard, it sounds like an interesting and relaxing club. And Hotaru agrees with me."

The black-haired girl nodded in confirmation.

One of the orange haired twins suddenly appeared in front of Erin. "Hi! It's great to have you! I'm Fuka!"

A second later her sister appeared in front of Hotaru. "Hi! It's great to have you in our club, too! I'm Fumika! Wanna be friends?"

Hotaru and Erin blinked simultaneously. After a minute, Hotaru responded. "Okay."

Fumika jumped for joy. "Yay! Hey, wanna come back to our room with us so we can talk more? Club's over and I'm sure your friend will be fine finding her way back."

Hotaru bit her lip. Turning to Erin, she asked, "Is it really alright?"

Erin shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine, you go have fun."

With that, the twins set off down the hallway, half-dragging Hotaru behind them.

Erin turned to Kaede, a puzzled expression on her face, she asked, "Are they always that... hyper?"

Kaede shook her head. Handing Erin a small piece of paper detailing club meetings, she replied, "No, you caught them on a slow day, that you did."

Erin was left slack jawed at that. As Kaede made her way out of the room, the boy-turned-girl tagged along behind her. "So, do you think my friends gonna be okay in the twins' care?"

Kaede shrugged. "Possibly a little confused, and disoriented, and possibly suffering from a severe makeover, but otherwise I believe she will indeed be fine." She nodded encouragingly.

Erin nodded, thankful for the reassurance.

Looking back towards the way the two had run, Kaede commented aloud, "If I didn't know better, I'd find it hard to believe those two are 14, that I would."

Erin's eyes grew wide hearing that. " I... I assumed those two were, like, elementary schoolers..."

Kaede looked at Erin out the corner of her eyes. "You recently joined class 2-A, did you not?"

Erin nodded.

"You got a good look at the class while you and your friends were making your introductions, did you not?" Kaede continued.

Erin nodded again.

Kaede blinked. "Did you not spot those two? And for that matter, why would elementary school children be in a junior high club?"

Erin shrugged. "I don't know. Advanced classes, and... well, I got nothing for that last one..."

Kaede shook her head. "It is a good thing you only joined the walking club, that it is."

Erin turned towards the girl and responded, her left eyebrow arched, "But I didn't just join the walking club. I also joined the library exploration club, the manga club, and the astronomy club."

Kaede's head hung somberly. "I pity you, then, that I do."

))o((

II. _Finis_

))o((


	3. Acta Non Verba

))o((

_Lore_

III. Acta Non Verba

))o((

Jo looked over at the clock. It hadn't changed; it still read 3:59. Jo sighed. Might as well get up... Being a borderline insomniac had its advantages at times, but waking up for the day when the floors were ice cold wasn't one of them.

Jo tossed the covers aside just as the alarm hit 4:00 and the alarm, an annoying buzzing thing, went off. Jo jumped into action and switched the alarm off in the middle of its second buzz. The speed there was impressive, but Jo still frowned. It used to be that Jo could reach it in the middle of the first buzz. She shook her head in dismay; she didn't really want to do more speed training, but she had to. It was speed and the special skills she'd picked up over time that kept her alive, and if she let that go, it meant that she'd be that much more unable to handle what came up... that and it would be effectively wasting the training... both of which were even more undesirable than the alternative.

Jo quickly pulled on a pair of oversized sweats, grabbed the trash in the room, filled her thermos, and set off to do some jogging after dropping the trash off in its designated place. The girl ran down the halls as quickly and silently as possible. It would be nice to do the run in her uncursed form, the reason for filling the thermos in the first place. She smiled.

A few minutes later and Jo stood, eyeing the dumpster. She bit her lip, then tossed the bag of trash. With a bit of luck, the bag arced right into the dumpster for non-burnable trash. A big smile broke out onto Jo's face; it'd been a while since Jo had made a shot like that.

Jo emptied half the thermos over her head, dousing herself with the hot water and changing from a short, busty, red-haired girl into a young man in his twenties. Joey sighed as he started doing a few effective stretches.

In a short while he was bounding out on his 'jog,' which was really four foot high bounces that propelled him about a foot and a half forward. One of the less painful training techniques he'd picked up and, besides being a great calf exercise, was used by many a martial artist to hop from roof to roof in residential areas.

After about twenty or thirty minutes of his, rather admittedly, odd-looking jog, Joey came to a small park which looked like it was begging to become a training ground. So, not being one to flat out deny a place its eon long desire, he made a cool-down lap around it before entering.

There were a lot of things he could do, but he was much more accustomed to having at least one live sparring partner when he practiced... and the two he was really used to sparring with turned into a panda and a pig, respectively, and neither of them would recognize him unless he was turned into a girl, and then they would only mistake him for someone else. Joey grinned and laughed at that. It really was his luck.

Well, standing and thinking about things he couldn't change was the same as doing nothing. So Joey walked up to one of the large landscaping boulders... it'd been a long time since he'd trained this way, but it was his own training method. A combination of two special martial art skills.

His fist struck the stone in rapid succession, thirty times in a single second. It was a special technique, the Ameguriken, aimed at the rock face... but at the last punch, he extended his forefinger and drove it through the rock, shattering the offending piece of stone with a Bakusai Tenketsu, yet another technique he had learned. Then, before the pieces flew all over, he switched back to Ameguriken and caught all the pieces he could as they flew from the point of impact.

It was all developed from the Bakusai Tenketsu training, where Ranma had fought him and the Amazons had tried to hoist Akane up as a prize to be won, literally. The first part, hitting the rock with an Ameguriken, was a knuckle-toughening and speed-training exercise. The shattering of the rock was practice so that skill wouldn't deteriorate. And, finally, the catching the rocks as they flew away... that was a speed, precision, and dexterity drill.

After several more iterations, Joey was finished practicing for the day... that, and the ground where once stood boulders now contained some nicely landscaped rocks. Joey started his odd jog back up, so intent on the schedule of the day that he didn't see the girl delivering newspapers until it was too late to alter his trajectory and avoid the collision.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Sorry! Are you ok?" Joey asked in an adrenaline rush, trying to see if the poor girl was okay. While the Bakusai Tenketsu training had made him tougher than most, the same couldn't be said about the girl. Joey helped her to her feet; it seemed like she was just stunned.

"Yes, I'm alright," the girl said, gathering up the scattered newspapers and taking the ones that Joey offered.

She looked familiar, from class, though Joey couldn't place a name. "Hey, you're in my class, aren't you?" Joey said as he tried his best, and failed, to remember the name, though the bells in the hair was pretty distinctive.

The girl looked at him and blinked. He looked like he could be a high school senior, or maybe a university freshman... either way, he certainly didn't look like anyone in her class. "I go to an all girl's school," she said, which prompted something sounding like a choked cough from the young man.

Joey, on the other hand, couldn't believe he'd been that careless. It was one of the reasons that he'd chosen to use a different name for his cursed form. So that he could talk like they were two different people was one of the reasons, not having to keep explaining his curse every time he found himself in another interesting situation was the other.

"Um, right... sorry. Obviously we aren't in the same class, my mistake," Joey said, wishing that he didn't feel so embarrassed. "Um, I see you're delivering papers... I'll help you finish up."

"But," the girl began, but was cut off.

"It's the least I can do," Joey insisted. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Joey."

"Asuna."

"Good to meet you... now let's see if we can't finish your route early."

Despite Joey's best efforts, they didn't get done all that early. According to Asuna, only ten minutes earlier than usual. It was kind of disappointing to Joey... but then again, he'd never delivered papers before.

Oh, well.

))o((

Erin sighed happily as she walked. She had always loved walking, and to a lesser extent running. It made this club just about her favorite of the bunch she had joined.

A smile etched on her face, she turned to look at Hotaru, who was walking slightly behind her. The girl looked back at her with a small somewhat shy smile of her own. It seemed the girl was starting to get used to Erin and the other two, if a little slowly.

Erin had to admit she was surprised, she had actually expected it to be over a week before the girl started really getting along with the others. Sure she put on a pleasant façade when interacting with most people, but it had always seemed to be just that to Erin: a pleasant façade.

Now, it seemed the girl was actually starting to enjoy the time she spent with the others... though it irked Erin a bit that she seemed to like spending time with that pint sized punk Kari the most.

Sighing, she turned back around, watching the back of the leader of the current activity. That leader just happened to also be the president of the walking club, Kaede.

The girl was cute, Erin had to admit, but her way of speaking left something to be desired. It always just felt a bit off to Erin. She wasn't exactly sure why... maybe it was because she liked ending sentences in 'That it is' or 'That I am,' but Erin couldn't be sure.

Resolving herself to staring at the girl's butt as they walked, Erin was understandably off guard when something bowled into her side, knocking her over and off the path. "TAG! You're it!"

Pulling herself up, she spotted the retreating form of Fuka and, a second later, spotted Fumika jumping out of some brush on the other side of the path and quickly hightailing it after her sister.

Erin grumbled as she pulled herself upright, Hotaru lending her a helpful hand. The twins sure knew how to ruin a good, leisurely walk.

Balling up her fists, the silver-haired girl looked from side to side before taking off after the almost invisible forms of the two pranksters in the distance.

Hotaru sighed as she watched her new companion run off, once again ready to start a fight with those much smaller than her. Looking up towards Kaede, she put on a brief burst of speed herself to catch up with the girl.

A small grin lit Kaede's face as she looked down at the shorter girl. "So, are you enjoying the walk?"

Hotaru nodded happily. "Yeah. It's a bit tiring, but it feels good to be out."

Kaede nodded in turn. "That it is. Your friend, she is quite rambunctious, is she not?"

Hotaru giggled a little at that. "Yeah, it sure seems like it."

The girls continued on in silence, only letting it, once or twice, be interrupted by distant screams of "GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE TWERPS!"

With the (more or less) silence, Hotaru was unsurprisingly caught off guard when another scream rang out, just a scant ten feet from her. "Die, little girl!" A creature, large and vaguely masculine with skin of black color, leapt up from the brush.

The Senshi of Saturn knew she didn't have time to dodge the large black fist heading toward her, so she was overly surprised to find herself over a dozen feet away as the creature's fist struck the ground, creating an explosion through the sheer force of the impact.

Kaede frowned slightly from her position over Hotaru after setting the girl down. She commanded in a quiet, yet stern voice, "Go. I will take care of this."

Hotaru would've second-guessed her decision to do as Kaede said, except it presented her with a prime opportunity to find a decent hiding place to transform in. Rushing away from the older girl and monster and into the nearby forest, the girl found a place she was fairly certain wouldn't be visible from the path after half a minute of trekking.

Reaching for her henshin wand, she quietly stated, "Saturn Star Power, Make Up!"

A quick magical stripping and reoutfitting later, Hotaru rushed back towards the path, her signature glaive in hand. However, she came up short and baffled when she saw the scene.

Kaede loomed over the prone form of the malefic creature. "I will only ask you one more time, beast. What is your purpose here? Tell me now, or taste your death at the end of my blade."

The creature snarled, making a pitiful attempt to move away. Seeing its beaten body would not comply, it quickly gave up. Looking balefully into the eyes of its assailant, it spit, its only response coming in a guttural rough voice. "I am but a meager Pravus in the service of my master, Malum Erus. I will reveal nothing of his plans to you, fleshling."

Kaede's response was firm. "Fine."

The creature's form dissipated in a flash or dark purple energy. Only a dark, slimy coating over the small kunai, stuck firmly in the ground, remained.

Sailor Saturn stared dumbly at the scene before her, shock overriding every thought passing through her mind.

Suddenly, Kaede's form blurred. Hotaru didn't have enough time to even blink before she felt something brush the hair on one side of her head. Kaede had somehow appeared behind her, standing unnervingly close. "Who are you?" the larger girl demanded. "Are you with that creature? Who is Malum Erus?"

Hotaru blinked before stuttering out, "N-No. I'm...uh... Sailor Saturn. Warrior of love and justice!"

"Why are you at this place?" Kaede frowned. She had heard of the Sailor Senshi, but...

Hotaru gulped, but quickly pulled herself together as best she could. "I sensed great evil here and came to investigate. I intended to destroy the source of the darkness, but it seems you've beaten me to it."

Kaede nodded. "Yes, that I did."

Hotaru, doing her best to avoid meeting the other girls eyes, caught sight of a golden glimmer near a tree in the distance. Turning back to Kaede, she quickly stated, "I... have to get going. You know, things to do... evil to vanquish... if that's okay..."

Kaede just stood and stared for a moment, before shrugging and stepping away.

The sailor-clad heroine rushed off, making a mad dash for the forest, where she quickly untransformed.

Erin watched as the young girl walked awkwardly out of the foliage. Looking down at the smaller girl, Erin asked, "So, what just happened?"

Hotaru sighed. "There was a.. a Pravus, I guess. And I, um, failed... I'm sorry."

Erin blinked, before laughing and patting the girl heartily on the back. "Hey, don't be sorry. I'm supposed to be the sorry one around here, I was off chasing midgets while you were getting attacked by... whatever a Pravus is. So, what actually happened?"

Hotaru looked at her feet, a faint grin touching her lips. "The creature came out of nowhere and attacked. Kaede sent me into hiding. I transformed once I had found some good cover. But, when I got back, she had apparently already taken care of it... All I overheard before it died was what it called itself and something about its master... someone named Malum Erus."

Erin nodded, taking in the information. "Well, I guess now we know a bit more about the enemy. But we should probably head back to campus and find the others so we can update them on your harrowing experience."

Hotaru nodded, her faint grin growing slightly.

))o((

Kari headed into the library, still clad in her school uniform. She was gradually getting used to wearing a skirt; she didn't know if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

The girl had been thinking lately. Why had this evil power chosen this school as his (or her) base of operations? It was a large campus, sure, but full of kids. Adults would provide more energy, right? Heck, there were thousands of places better suited to any dastardly needs.

In short, something must set the school apart from other places. Maybe Kari would be able to find a clue among the myriad of books as to why. Historical archives, old legends, common rumors... any of them might provide a clue.

"This place is amazing," the girl commented as she entered the library. There was a myriad of staircases, balconies, and walkways going through a vast room with an uncountable number of bookshelves.

"I wonder where I should begin?" Kari wasn't really used to digging up information, especially when it was as broad as "quirks within the school's history." Deciding that anywhere was good as long as she began, the girl took to the bookshelves.

Of course, things didn't go smoothly. Books upon books upon books, all on differing subjects and occasionally in different languages, but none that could help the girl find what she needed.

Perhaps she should get some help, then. With that in mind, Kari went straight to the librarian.

A pair of dark blue eyes looked up as Kari approached. "Kari?" the young girl behind the desk asked, recognizing her classmate. She smiled pleasantly. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, um..." Kari felt odd not knowing the girl's name. Well, she'd just have to fix that. "Sorry, you caught my name but I don't know yours."

The girl blushed. "Oh, sorry. That's rude, I didn't mean to... um... sorry." She looked down and her eyes became hidden under the girl's bangs. While her hair was generally short, her bangs were longer than would be normal.

There was a moment of awkward silence. "And... your name would be?" Kari prodded.

The girl jerked a bit. "Oh! Right. My name's Nodoka. Sorry."

This girl was shier than Hotaru, Kari realized. "No problem, no problem," she consoled the indigo-haired girl. "I just came for some help looking up some things."

"Oh?" Nodoka replied. She could probably help out Kari, then. "What are you looking for?"

"I kind of fancy myself to be a sort of historian, you see," Kari said casually, leaning against the librarian desk. As she leaned closer, Nodoka blinked confused. "So," Kari continued, "I was hoping to look up the school's history... along with any old legends, or maybe interesting old documents from the school."

Nodoka nodded in understanding. "I think I can help you out."

"Good!" Kari said, straightening and smiling broadly. "So, where should I start?"

"Come along," Nodoka said, standing and stepping out from behind the desk. She looked down at Kari, as most people tended to do, and said, "There are some old newspaper archives from the school's founding and several student memoir books you might be interested in." She led Kari into the library.

"Sounds promising," the girl said as she followed.

Nodoka led the blue-haired girl around the library, occasionally stopping in a section to retrieve a few items. After ten minutes, the two girls were each carrying a fairly full load. "This should be a good start," Nodoka said as she led Kari to a table, where the two unloaded the books and papers.

"No kidding," Kari replied. She looked over all the items for a moment before turning to Nodoka with a smile. "Thank you for all of your help."

"No problem," was the reply Nodoka gave, returning the smile. "I'll be back at the front desk if you need me."

Kari gave a mock salute. "Will do, chief."

Nodoka walked away, leaving Kari to fend for herself against the myriad of books and documents they had found. As she reached the front desk, she spotted a familiar form sitting there. "Ah, Yue! Is it four o'clock already?"

Yue nodded as Nodoka took a seat next to her. "Yeah." She was silent for a moment as she pulled out a small carton of juice. "Where have you been?"

The shy girl smiled. "I was helping one of our new classmates find some books..."

"One of our new classmates?" Yue asked, curious.

"Yeah... Kari, the blue-haired girl."

Yue stuck the straw into the carton of juice. "That one, huh?" She took a sip. "I pity you."

"Huh?" Nodoka seemed confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, nothing" Yue said, brushing it off. She was silent a moment. After a bit of time had passed, she extended the juice toward Nodoka. "Juice?"

))o((

"Stupid freaking Vulcan, being so freaking hard to find," Erin grumbled under her breath as she walked. "...Gonna strangle damn Vulcan when I find her..."

She had started off her search in a good mood, she really had. But as hour after hour wore on, good mood degenerated into decent mood, which degenerated into okay mood, which then became bad mood, and had finally ended up at its current stage of shitty mood.

Erin frowned as she looked from side to side; by her estimate she had covered the middle school area of the campus twice now, still with no sign of the gender-bending kendoist.

It was at about this point in Erin's inner grumbling that she noticed one of her classmates sitting on a nearby bench, staring down at a small flower. The boy turned girl had recognized her for the simple fact that she was one of the two people Erin had seen in the school with long silver hair like herself. The fact that she wore a different school uniform than the other students also stood out, with her uniform being a dark blue dress as opposed to a white shirt and plaid skirt.

Walking over, Erin coughed in an attempt to get the girl's attention.

She continued to look at the flower.

Erin coughed louder.

The flower staring continued.

Erin coughed even louder.

Still no luck.

Finally, tired of the 'polite' way, Eryn asked loudly, "Hello?"

That seemed to get the girl's attention. Looking up and then around, she seemed baffled before finally pointing to herself, blinking her red eyes in confusion.

"Yes. You."

Her eyes got wide.

"You're in my class, right? Have you seen Jo around? She's, y'know, the redhead that transferred in with me."

The girl seemed to blink, and then think, before finally, almost numbly, shaking her head no.

Erin snapped her fingers. "Nut bunnies. This sucks... Where could that girl have gotten off to...?" She looked back down at her classmate, who seemed to have a big goofy smile on her face. Gulping, Erin asked worriedly, "Are you... okay?"

The girl nodded, grin still in place.

Erin looked to the side and said, "Okay then. I'll be leaving then. You can go back to your staring contest with the daisy."

Before Erin had taken even five steps, the girl called out, "WAIT!"

Erin turned around, staring blankly at her classmate. "What?"

The girl asked, tears around her eyes, "Can I go with you?"

"Ummm... Sure..."

Erin just barely avoided the girl's glomp.

Erin sighed as she turned back around and begin, once again, walking. With her back turned, she was not privy to seeing the girl's little dance of joy behind her.

As they walked, Erin attempted to start the semblance of a conversation. "So... I never did get your name."

"Sayo," the girl replied cheerfully, "Sayo Aizaka."

Erin nodded. "Cool. As you probably already know, I'm Erin, Erin Belmont. Last of the Ancients. I'm here to rock your world."

Sayo blinked. "Huh?"

Erin broke into a fit of giggles as she walked.

Erin was, in fact, still giggling on and off as she passed the front doors of the gym just in time to catch Jo walking out of them.

Sayo pointed and asked, "Isn't that your friend, Erin?"

Erin blinked. Looking up, she said, "No, that's my friend Jo." The giggling once again commenced.

Jo looked over at Erin, her eyebrow raised. "Hi Erin," she greeted, "something wrong?"

Erin did her best to stifle her giggles and respond. "N-hehe-no, nothing really. Hehehehe."

Jo blinked. "Okay... So what's so funny?"

Erin smiled and responded, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "You wouldn't get it. But it was hilarious."

Jo gave her comrade a look of concern before responding, "Alright... I just finished my workout, so... wanna head back to the dorms?"

Erin shrugged. "Sure, just let me say bye to my friend."

Jo looked around. Not spotting anyone, she looked back at Erin and nodded. "Well, I guess you can meet me back there once you find your friend." With that, Jo rushed off, heading back towards the dorms.

Erin watched the young redhead bounce off, before turning back towards Sayo. "Well, that was rude..."

Sayo blinked. "What was rude?"

Erin rolled her eyes. "Her acting like you were invisible or something."

Sayo blinked, again. "But... I'm a ghost... she couldn't see me..."

Erin nearly busted out laughing, "Ha! So you do have a sense of humor!"

Sayo looked at Erin oddly. "O-Okay... "

Turning back towards where Jo ran off, Erin finally stifled her giggles. "Well, I guess I'd better get going. See you in class tomorrow, alright? We can talk again then."

Sayo replied, quietly, "All right then."

Erin gave the girl one last smile before running off towards the dorms...

...Once again missing the girl's dance of joy.

))o((

Kari sighed as she pored over the papers and scrapbooks. She had gone looking for anything out of the ordinary with the school, and these texts surely delivered. Old legends about the World Tree, secret underground ruins, and strange creatures abounded. Eye witness accounts of ghosts, strange feats, and secretive organizations were all recounted at various points of the school's history.

While none of these stories stood out more than the next, what was shocking was the sheer number of them. Even taking into account that some must be false, made up on the whim of some individual, the myriad of stories led Kari to believe that they all couldn't possibly be works of fiction.

The girl palmed her forehead. "Oi, this school is seriously messed up." It was a million times worse than Furinkan. Robot girls, ghost stories, magic trees...

Well, nothing more could be done. Anything and everything about this school was different and it would be impossible to know if any one fact drew their enemy. So much for finding anything through research.

She sighed as she began to gather up all the objects littered across the table. She might as well get going.

As the young blue-haired girl dropped off all the material in a drop-off cart, she caught sight of her roommate and fellow Sailor Senshi, Hotaru. The black-haired girl was, apparently, chatting with Nodoka at the front desk. As Kari approached, she could also see that the girl was laden with many bags of foodstuff.

"Oh, yes," Kari heard Nodoka saying as she approached, "Kari is here. She's inside researching the school's history."

"I see," Hotaru replied, smiling. "Thank you." As she turned to venture into the library, she spotted Kari... right next to her. "Eep!" she gasped, startled. She took a step back and dropped one of the bags she was holding onto.

Kari's arm shot out, quickly retrieving the dropped parcel before it could crash onto the floor. "Be careful, Hotaru," she said, "we don't want to break anything."

"Kari," Hotaru breathed, "you startled me."

Kari grinned sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that. I have a habit of sneaking up on people, it seems."

Nodoka stifled a giggle. "Well, at least now you found each other."

Hotaru nodded. "Yep." She looked at Kari. "Come on, let's head back to our dorm."

"All right," the blue-haired girl responded. "I guess I'm done here, and we probably should drop off the food." She trotted on ahead.

Hotaru followed behind the energetic little girl. "Oh, and thank you again, Nodoka!" she called behind her.

"Any time!" the girl replied.

))o((

Jo grumbled to herself. She was having a tough time with the homework, and she was really getting irked by that fact. Though she was getting more irked by the fact Erin seemed to be breezing through it.

Sighing, she pulled a pillow off her nearby bed before lying back. Turning her head towards Erin, she asked, "So, any ideas on who the big bad voodoo daddy around here might be?"

Erin shrugged. Turning from her homework, she replied, "All I know is its name is Malum Erus."

"Huh?" Jo's left eye arched uncomfortably.

Erin repeated herself. "All I know is its name is Malum Erus."

Jo groaned before asking, "And how, may I ask, do you know that, you ding dong?"

Erin shrugged. "Hotaru ran into one of its little beasties when we were at walking club."

The redhead smirked. "How bad did she kick its ass?"

"She didn't. Apparently the leader of the club, Kaede did." Erin laughed.

Jo gave Erin an odd look. "Weird..."

The other girl nodded. "Yup."

Tapping her finger against the floor, Jo searched for another question to ask. After a few minutes had passed, inspiration hit. "So, who do _you_ think this... Malum Erus really is?"

"Yue," Erin responded seriously.

Jo blinked. "Me?"

Erin shook her head and rolled her eyes. "No, I meant Yue as in Yu-E."

"Oh... and why would you think Yue is the culprit?"

Erin began to count of reasons on her fingers. "One, she's way to smart for her own good. Two, she's silent, and seems to fade into the background. Three, she just _looks_ evil. Four, she gives me the willies. Five, she gives me the willies. And six, we met her early on in our little adventure here, so she must be a major player in this whole thing. And my bet is on her being the bad guy."

"Wow..." Jo stared at the other girl astounded.

Erin looked back at her, smirking. "What? Floored by my deductive reasoning?"

Jo shook her head. "No. It's just that Kari told me you were an idiot... but still, wow."

Erin sat there, dumbfounded. Finally, after a minute had passed, she responded. "Huh?"

Jo smiled. "Nothing... Just nothing. Go back to the homework."

Erin turned back around, shaking her head and quickly got back to work.

Jo leaned back, smiling, until there came a bang at the door. Using the bed to help pull herself up, she called out, "I'm coming, I'm coming."

A sardonic voice from the other side retorted, "Glad to hear it. Now open the damn door!"

Jo rolled her eyes. Quickly unlocking the door, she opened it wide and allowed Hotaru and Kari to make their way in. Jo noticed one of the girls was laden with snacks, the other holding a small bag of groceries. She looked over at Kari as she closed the door and asked, "So, did Hotaru tell you about her little run in at the walking club?"

Kari nodded as she absently set down the snacks. "Uh huh."

"So, do you think it's worth looking into?"

Kari nodded again. "Uh huh."

Noticing the girl seemed to be barely paying her any mind, Jo asked, "Are you paying attention to me?"

Kari, once more, nodded. "Uh huh."

Jo glanced over at Erin for a moment, an idea quickly springing to mind. "Flat."

Kari spun around immediately. Glaring at Jo, she asked, "What did you just say?"

Jo played innocent. "Who? Me? Nothing."

The smaller girl nodded, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Uh huh."

Jo couldn't help but grin as she asked, "So, now that I know your listening, did Hotaru tell you she ran into one of the baddies?"

Kari looked from Hotaru to Jo before answering firmly, "Nope. She didn't." Turning back towards Hotaru, she asked, "So, what's she talking about?"

Hotaru laid the groceries in her hands onto the nearby counter before replying sheepishly, "Oh, um, nothing really. One of the minions of the bad guy attacked me and one of the other walking club members..."

Kari's right eyebrow raised. "Did you kill it?"

Hotaru shook her head, looking down at the floor she responded, "No. Actually, the other walking club member killed it before I could get the chance."

That confused Kari. Did any of her classmates actually know how to fight? Or were the enemies just weak? Well, she supposed it didn't matter for now. "Get any useful intel before it died?"

Hotaru shrugged slightly and gave a small, sheepish grin. "Well, I found out the bad guys, the monsters, are called Pravus... and their master is called Malum Erus."

Kari snorted. "Malum Erus... That's Latin. Evil something or other, huh? Interesting." She paused. "I guess these baddies are from Earth, or they wouldn't use Latin. Well, either that or they have a warped sense of humor."

Eryn mumbled something or other from the desk.

Kari looked over at the girl and asked, "What was that?"

Eryn repeated herself slightly louder. "I said, I can usually translate words... but not names..."

Hotaru blinked confusedly, Kari glared at Erin, and Jo ate an orange.

Shaking her head, trying to clear Erin's odd statement from her mind, Hotaru asked, "Hey, Kari, wanna go take a bath?"

Kari's eyes shot open. "Huh?"

The black-haired young girl shot her friend a smile. "I asked if you wanted to come take a bath with me."

Yeah, that's what Kari thought she had asked. She gulped. "Well, um... I suppose... if you're sure... that's a good idea..."

Erin watched as the two girls got ready. Comparing the pros and cons of the situation, she finally asked, "Hey, I'm feeling a bit dirty. Can I join you two?"

Kari shot the girl a glare. "No."

Erin ignored her Looking at Hotaru, she prodded, "So, can I?"

"Sure, I guess." The girl shrugged. "The more the merrier, right?" She smiled.

))o((

A broad smile covered Erin's face as she slid into the warm water of the women's bath. Erin was happy, and not just from the comfort of the warm water around her body. No, she was more happy because something had crossed her mind when Kari and Hotaru had originally initiated the idea to go to the baths. Something she was ashamed she hadn't thought of earlier.

Girls' bath plus being in a girl's body equaled a free and easy viewing pleasure. She was starting to understand Kozue's other half a little better.

Erin's attention was drawn by the two towel wrapped forms slipping into the bath nearby. Neither really caught her interest, but then they were both somewhat underdeveloped. Especially Kari.

Erin closed her eyes again, leaning back on the slight incline she had been sitting on. She simply allowed herself to go with the flow for the time being.

Her attention was drawn back to the outside world a little over ten minutes later. The large door at the end of the room creaked open audibly. Opening one eye, Erin watched as three decently endowed girls walked along the edge of the oversized bath, carrying bathing supplies carefully in their hands with towels strung over their shoulders. One of the girls had short purple hair with bangs mostly covering her eyes. Another had long brown hair and glasses. The last was Yue.

Erin's still present smile slowly degraded into an almost evil smirk as the girls prepared themselves to get into the bath. She didn't care much for Yue, seeing as she was as underdeveloped as Kari, but Nodoka was cute enough, and Haruna's rack was quite nice.

Erin was really starting to think Clay wasn't so bad. This was awesome.

As the three slipped in, Erin watched as they made their way towards the shy but friendly Hotaru and the surprisingly shy Kari. The silver-haired girl decided to float over herself. Her nearly evil smirk made its final leap to a full blown evil smirk as she asked the short, blue haired girl, "What's wrong, Kari? You seem embarrassed about something. Are these girls making you feel like you come up a bit short?"

Kari silently fumed.

The girls gave Erin an odd glance before continuing their conversation with Hotaru.

Her smirk evil as ever, Eryn continued to prod the young ninja. "Oh, come on, Kari, you can tell me. You know I'd never flatly refuse to listen to you. You know me and the others are never too bored to listen to your problems."

Kari snorted, obviously getting less and less amused by Erin's attempts at "humor."

The other girls, perhaps more wisely, seemed to be completely ignoring the girl.

Erin bit her thumb, trying to come up with something else to push the aqua tressed girls buttons. Giggling a short bit later, she asked, "Come on, short stack, open up your mouth and tell me what's bothering you..." Looking to the side, she finished, "God, I hope it isn't something like having a crush on our new teacher..." After a few moments of silence, Erin looked back to the fuming girl. She poked the girl a few times. "That's it, isn't it? You have a crush on Mr. Springfield, don't you? You know, I hear..."

Erin was cut off by a quiet whisper from Kari's lips. "That is enough, you stupid bastard. Prepare to die." The look in the girl's eyes showed that she wasn't joking or making idle threats.

Hotaru and the other three students looked at the dwindling bubbles coming to the surface.

Nodoka asked worriedly, "Erin's going to be okay, isn't she?"

"I hope so." Hotaru sighed.

Erin finally escaped Kari's strangling grasp a little over two minutes later. She popped out from under the water, gasping for breath. She stumbled, trying to get away from Kari, and ended up tripping and falling onto Haruna. Nodoka and Hotaru gasped as both girls fell against the side of the bath. Erin inadvertently took the blunt of the fall as they spun a little, and Erin ended up pinned between Haruna and the corner of the bath.

"Are you okay?" Haruna asked, quickly getting off.

Instead of replying, Erin stood up and turned towards Kari. "Stupid little midget! I could have died!" She thought a moment. "Well, maybe not. But it still sucked."

Kari rolled her eyes.

Erin snorted. She brushed past Kari, making her way to the opposite edge of the bath. She pulled herself out and grabbed her towel. Wrapping the large cotton rectangle around herself, Erin snatched up her bathing supplies. She made anger and disdain clear in her sharp movements.

Just as she reached the edge of the room nearest the door, a large wave seemed to suddenly erupt from the water, falling well outside the bath and thoroughly soaking Erin, her towel, and washing her soap and shampoo out of her small basket and onto the floor several dozen feet away.

Erin turned towards Kari and glared before stomping off out of the bathroom.

Kari continued to soak in the bath, whistling innocently.

"What was that?" Haruna asked, blinking.

"I-I don't know," Nodoka replied.

"Nothing to worry about," Kari replied nonchalantly. "It's my super-secret martial arts technique."

"You know martial arts?" Haruna asked. "Maybe you should join the Chinese martial arts group."

Kari shuddered as she thought of Chinese martial arts and the Amazons that knew them. "No thanks. I try to avoid Chinese fighters, if at all possible."

There was a moment of awkward silence. Hotaru tried her best to break it. Turning to Haruna, she began, "So, you're a fan a Mai Hime, too?"

Haruna nodded energetically. "Yeah. Mai Hime is awesome. Heck, it's better than awesome You watch it? Who's your favorite character?"

"Akane, definitely. She's so cool when she fights, and she is so smitten with her boyfriend at the same time."

Haruna nodded happily. "Yeah, she's cool. But my fave will always be Nagi. He's freakin' hilarious!"

Kari looked at the two confused. Turning to Nodoka, she asked, "What the heck are they talking about?"

Nodoka shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Some new anime Haruna's obsessed with. I tried getting her to explain it to me one day... but, well..." She tried to think of how to put it... "Haruna has a habit of going off on tangents in the middle of explanations, so I'm still pretty much in the dark."

Kari sighed. "Maybe I'll see if she'll loan me some DVDs." She was sure she could find some time to watch anime, even between class, club, and monster-hunting.

Haruna's eyes lit up. Almost as fast as a ninja, she was next to Kari. "Of course I'll lend you some! You'll love the series! I absolutely know you will!" She squealed in happiness.

Kari blinked. "...Thanks?"

The glasses-wearing girl smiled. "Oh, don't mention it." She grabbed the smaller girl by the hand. "Come on, let's go get them. You can start watching tonight!" Haruna bodily dragged Kari behind her as she made her way out of the bath.

Yue blinked as she and the other two girls heard a trailing yell of, "Shouldn't we get our towels first?"

Hotaru giggled.

))o((

III. _Finis_

))o((


	4. Ad Augusta per Angusta

))o((

_Lore_

IV. Ad Augusta per Angusta

))o((

As the last period teacher walked out the room, many of the students also began filing out. Kari and Erin, however, remained seated. Negi had, after his own class, asked the two to remain after school so he could have a word with them.

"Oi," Kari muttered, "what's the little midget want?" It was ironic that she was referring to Negi as a little midget when he was, in fact, slightly taller than she was.

Evangeline snorted as she stood to leave. "Have fun," she said, patting the girl who shared a table with her on the shoulder.

Erin snorted back.

The blonde girl simply turned to leave, giving a meaningful glance at Kari as she did so.

Kari felt her blood boil. Evangeline pushed all the wrong buttons with her; she was arrogant and snobbish. Perhaps more annoying was the fact that the girl had the skills to back up her arrogance... An extremely one-sided game of go had proven that to Kari.

As the short blonde left the classroom, the last to leave, the familiar face of 2 A's homeroom teacher entered. "Ah," the young British boy said as he saw Erin and Kari, "I'm glad to see you're both here."

Erin snorted. "Cut to the chase, teach. Why'd you make us stay after class?"

Kari mentally applauded Erin's up-front approach, though she'd never tell the other girl that she approved. After all, they hated each other.

Negi scratched the back of his head as he laid his ever-present staff against the wall. "Ah, well..." He thought a moment. "Well, I was hoping to talk to you about today's test."

"What about it?" Erin asked.

"Well," the boy began, "as you know, I graded them at the end of class and, well, to be frank, I need to discuss your grades."

Kari sighed. She knew what was coming.

Erin didn't. "So what? Do I get a sticker for getting a full score or something?" Belittling the teacher and inflating her own ego in one statement; that was a skill only Erin possessed.

That caused Negi to pause. How did he want to break the news to these young girls? ...Well, no use pushing it off. Best to get things out into the open.

Kari and Erin reached out to accept the offered papers.

"Twenty?" Erin cried in shock. "How did I only get a twenty?"

Kari looked hers over. "I beat you," she commented, holding the paper towards Erin. It was completely blank, aside a large red zero on the top. "Zero points, for the win!"

Negi sighed. "I've learned that some of my students have a history..." How to put it? "...less than stellar in academics. I was hoping that you two could do a bit better." He looked over the two girls.

Kari sighed. She had handed in her paper blank so she could get more sleep. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, teach." She slouched down in her desk and looked glum. "I guess this is where you yell at us some more, right?" Her voice was listless, gloomy, and downhearted. "Maybe punish us for our grades?"

"I-I didn't mean anything like that!" Negi cried, waving his arms around. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings! I'm not punishing you or anything!"

Kari was immediately all smiles, beaming up at the teacher. "So does that mean we're free to go?"

The British boy felt like he had just been played. "Y-Yes... I suppose... Just try to do better next time, okay?"

"Will do, chief," the blue-haired girl replied with a mock salute. She stood and, noticing that Erin was still in a state of shock over her test score, grabbed her roommate to drag her out.

A rain of confetti and cheers greeted the two as they left the classroom.

Kari blinked, confused. "What the hell?"

Seven girls had been awaiting the duo outside of the classroom. Kari recognized Yue, Nodoka, and Haruna. The girl with long orange hair, tied with bells into two ponytails, looked familiar as well. There was also a blond girl with tan skin and a pink-haired girl, both of whom Kari recognized for being loud during class and interrupting her nice naps. The last was a tall, well endowed girl with long brown hair.

"Kaede," Erin said, noticing the last girl.

Kaede responded with a wink as she tossed another handful of confetti into the air.

"Okay, so what's going on?" Kari asked, confused.

"We were eavesdropping," the pink-haired girl explained. "We figured the kiddo was going to chew you out because of your test grades, but we had to be sure."

"Be sure?" Kari replied, confused. "So you make it a habit to make fun of low-scoring classmates?"

"Nothing like that," Kaede replied. She nodded. "We had to be sure you were skilled enough, that we did." Another nod. "But you exceeded our expectations." She laid her hand on Erin's shoulder. "A twenty is something to be proud of." Her other hand came to rest on Kari's shoulder. "And a zero is unheard of, even for us."

The Senshi of Bellona was well and truly confused. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Not at all!" the blonde said, grinning like a cat. "In fact, we're inducting you."

"Huh?" was Erin's articulate response.

Yue motioned with her arm to encompass the group. "We're the Baka Rangers, the top five at scoring the worst."

"In other words," the blonde interjected, "we're the bottom five in class."

Yue glanced over at her before continuing. "Anyway, to continue... I'm Baka Black." She motioned toward the blonde. "This is Baka Yellow, Fei Ku."

Fei Ku saluted with an over exaggerated hand wave. "At your service!"

Yue jerked her thumb behind her to Kaede, who was still throwing confetti, now alone in the act. "Kaede, Baka Blue." She continued as Kaede waved, scattering the confetti in her hands over the heads of the gathered students.

"Baka Pink, Makie."

As to be expected, Baka Pink was the pink-haired girl. "Hiyo!" Makie greeted cheerfully.

Yue motioned toward the orange-haired girl. "Asuna, also Baka Red," she said, to which Asuna responded with a snort, obviously not a part of the group effort. Yue glanced at her, but then moved onto Erin and Kari. "And you're now inducted into our ranks as Baka Green," a point at Kari, "and Baka White," pointing at Erin.

Erin crossed her arms in front of her. "Nuh-uh, no way. I am not being a part of some sentai group. No way, no how."

Asuna looked sympathetic. "Don't even bother," she said. "It won't change a thing." She obviously spoke from experience.

Kari blinked a moment. "Why are they here, then?" she asked, pointing at Haruna and Nodoka.

"We're with her," Haruna replied, pointing at Yue.

The conversation continued for a few more moments before Negi left the classroom, breaking up the group of students, who then departed amiably (or less than amiably, in Asuna's case.)

Kari felt like the entire ordeal passed over her head. "That was really weird."

Erin nodded. "I think a lot of things here are really weird."

Kari held back the "Like you?" that she really wanted to say. "Well, I think I'm going to get going. I have stuff to do, monsters to find, that sort of thing."

The silver-haired girl looked over at the young girl. "Have fun?" she suggested, making it sound like a question.

"I'll try."

))o((

"Hmmm... and that one, and that one, and..." A pause to consider it. "...That one too, please."

The cashier stared at the girl dumbfounded. "Miss, might I suggest a few less?" He'd normally try not to hurt his own business, but fifteen was a bit beyond the norm. Just what could be done with fifteen of them? And some of them were fairly large, too.

Hotaru seemed to think about it for a moment and then smiled sweetly at the older man. "Yes, I guess it is kind of a lot, but me and my roommates are going to need them."

The man sighed. "If you would like, I could deliver them to your place of residence for a small fee... it should only take an hour if you live in Mahora."

Hotaru shook her head, smile still firmly in place. "No, I think I'll be able to manage. But thank you anyway."

The man frown as the younger girl left the store. He really hadn't wanted to let her carry that much baggage; she was just a little girl and really didn't look as if she was in the best of health. Shaking his head, he tried to push the incident from his mind. At least now he'd be able to catch the Mikasaki Honda match.

Hotaru grunted, barely managing to tug one of the two largest boxes back into place with her teeth. The entire tower of boxes, while heavy, was just barely within her own strength to carry. She hoped no one made the mistake of getting in front of her very obstructed line of sight.

Hotaru wobbled slowly down the sidewalk, watching the boxes cautiously. She'd managed to get her other supplies earlier, but she'd known she'd be needing a lot of lamps for her project, so she had left them for last.

Hotaru heroically managed to make it a little over a dozen feet past the shop before a slight crack in the sidewalk brought about the collapse of the box pile and a scream.

Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, the scream had not been Hotaru's.

Hotaru squirmed out from under the few boxes that had tumbled over her when she landed. She gaped at the pile of boxes and the single arm visible from under them. After a few minutes and a lot of box shifting, Hotaru had managed to uncover the accidental victim of her inadvertent box-avalanche.

Hotaru's victim stood up, brushing off her Mahora uniform and looking down at Hotaru strangely. Hotaru, on the other hand, was staring down at the ground shamefacedly.

After a few moments, Hotaru asked cautiously, "S-so are you alright?"

The girl, a taller girl with shockingly red hair, looked down at herself, one eyebrow quirked. "Well, it looks like the only thing damaged was my pride."

As she looked back up, she saw Hotaru begin to apologize profusely. She backed up a bit. "Whoa, just whoa. No need for you to be sorry. It was no big deal." She looked down at the boxes. "Though why you'd be carrying that much is beyond me." Not to mention how the smaller girl had even managed to do so.

Hotaru bit her lip. "Well... I was hoping to surprise my roommates and decorate our dorm room while they were all out today."

The girl nodded, smiling like the cat that just caught the mouse. "I thought I recognized you! You're in my class aren't you? One of the new transfer students... Hotaru something... Tomeito... Tomato... Tomoe! That was it, right?"

Hotaru nodded, head still faced down. "Yes..."

The redhead smirked. "Hey, since you're in my class, why don't I help you with these boxes? I mean, it's on my way after all, and maybe we can even have a nice chat on the way."

Hotaru frowned, looking at the ground. She was still embarrassed about letting the boxes get out of control, let alone letting them fall on some innocent bystander that also happened to be a classmate... ugh, the whole ordeal had made her brain hurt. She sighed as she looked up. "Sure, I guess. I mean, if you really want to..."

The girl smiled, picking up some of the boxes and making two separate stacks out of them. "Yes, I do want to. And my name's Kazumi Asakura, but you can just call me Asakura."

As soon as two somewhat equal piles had been made, the two were off, their large loads carried rather awkwardly as they ambled down the street.

Asakura felt the need to make idle conversation as they walked, or perhaps stumbled, down the street. "So, from what I hear, the other three you came here with all moved here from Sendai, while you moved here from Juuban. How'd you all end up meeting?"

Hotaru would have shrugged, but that was quite impossible with what she was carrying. "Jo's related to one of my parents, and Kari's the daughter of a family friend. Erin was their friend, so she tagged along. My parents had to go on a trip, and theirs were preparing to move, so they sent us here. Erin basically followed them on a whim."

Asakura gave Hotaru a quick, weird glance. "That's kind of weird."

Hotaru giggled. "I've learned, when it involves Erin, it usually is kind of weird."

Asakura snickered. After a few moments and a close call involving a curb and a poodle, she began to make conversation again. "What is in these boxes, by the way? They seem pretty light, considering how many boxes there are."

Hotaru looked off to the side as they came to where they needed to cross to get to the Mahora Academy area. "Lamps."

Asakura blinked. "Lamps? All of them? "

Hotaru nodded.

"There's like a dozen boxes here... isn't that a little much?"

Hotaru once again tried to shrug as she and Asakura crossed the street. "I like lamps. I collect them... and besides, I think they make good decorations. Don't you?"

"I suppose..."

"Oh, and actually, there are fifteen total."

Asakura just stared at the girl for a while as they continued on their way. She stopped staring when she tripped and fell.

After quickly picking up the dropped boxes, the two continued. It wasn't much longer until they reached the steps that led up towards the dorm area of the Mahora campus.

Asakura asked, "So, you're from Juuban right? Ever see the sailor scouts?"

Hotaru nearly stumbled, but managed to just avoid it. "Nope. Never. Not one of those lucky few."

Asakura did a double take. "Few? Few? According to the net, there's like several hundred people that have managed to see the scouts at least once. In more than half the cases, it was multiple times."

Hotaru stood on the steps, stunned for a moment, before finally replying, "Oh... Well, it still doesn't change the fact I've never ever seen them."

Asakura nodded, it was quite obvious she wasn't happy with the answer. But there wasn't anything for her to do but accept it.

A few more silence-filled minutes passed, before the next question emerged from junior journalist's parted lips. "So, you and your friends join any clubs yet?" They were entering the lobby area now, but she patiently ignored the stares of the underclassmen. Hadn't they ever seen two girls with an enormous armful of boxes before?

Hotaru did her best to nod before answering, "Yeah. I joined the walking club, and I'm also helping out at the nurse's office. I think Kari joined the chess club or something like that. Jo is in the fencing club. Erin's in... a lot of clubs."

Asakura's eyebrow raised in interest, "Oh really? How many?"

Hotaru did her best to think while navigating the halls. "Seven, maybe eight."

Asakura almost tripped. "I see what you mean about the Erin equals weird thing..."

Hotaru smiled pleasantly. "It's something you have to get used to. She's a nice person, really, just kind of strange." Of course, the same could be said of Kari. Jo was really the only normal one...

Asakura nodded as they both began to walk again. "So, Erin's good but strange, duly noted. What about Kari, I hear she can be a kind of violent?"

Hotaru nodded. "True, I guess she can be, but in a good way."

"How exactly can you be violent in a good way?"

Hotaru's face took on a very thoughtful expression before she replied in a chipper as ever tone, "You know, I don't honestly know."

Asakura would have face faulted, but she really didn't want to become one with the box avalanche again.

As they finally reached the elevator, Asakura shifted the boxes in her arms slightly, concentrating more on keeping her balance then asking questions. She nimbly hit the "up" button with the corner of her stack of boxes. She shifted the boxes again as the doors opened, waiting for Hotaru to go through. She was able to hit the "5" button inside, and the doors shut with a "ping."

Once inside though, she began the interrogation, or, as she liked to call it, "friendly conversation," once more.

"So, what's Jo like? Every time I see her, she's either running around campus or sleeping."

"Well, Jo's um nice, polite... umm..."

"Normal?"

Hotaru nodded, relieved. "Yup, that's it. She's very normal."

"So, have you four made any friends since you got here?"

"Oh, yes, a few." Images of Kari being dragged butt naked through the halls of the dormitory sprang unbidden to Hotaru's mind.

The doors opened and the two ventured into the hallways of the fifth floor. "So, tell me more about your parents?"

"Oh, um..." Quick, time to think of something! "Hey, look, here we are, at my dorm room, thanks for the help bye!" Grabbing the boxes out of the other girl's hands, Hotaru rushed inside, slamming the door behind her.

After a few moments, Asakura walked away, rubbing her now pain ridden nose.

))o((

Jo grunted as she blocked a strike. It was more powerful than it looked, more from the surprise than anything else, and she quickly returned the favor. After a few minutes, though, the match was wrapped up, clearly in Jo's favor.

It wasn't surprising. These people weren't on the same level as Tatewaki Kuno or any of several other "sparring partners" (read that as 'people out to kill you') that Jo had encountered. However, they were skilled enough that it wasn't a complete waste of time, either. It was actually good to be able to practice some of the basics again, and the general pointers she'd given the others seemed to really be making the kendo team a bit stronger.

"Good job," Jo said, trying not to sound either arrogant or insincere. "You got in several blows that were surprisingly powerful, but the problem, right now, is that you lack the precision to get them past my defenses."

Kozue nodded at the two. "Next will be Jo and..." his eye wandered around the members until it landed on the only club member that Jo hadn't fought yet; Setsuna. He took a deep breath and yelled, with entirely too much enthusiasm, "Setsuna!"

Setsuna, on the other hand, quietly stepped on to the mat. "I realize this will be your sixth consecutive match today. I would not hold it against you if you are too tired to go on."

Jo smiled. True, she was feeling a bit worn, but it was a good worn and not too bad. "Nah, I have enough for another match."

Squaring off, the two raised their bokuto into ready position. Setsuna sprang into action the instant Kozue signaled the start of the match, apparently hoping to put Jo on the defensive from the start.

Jo parried and sidestepped, swinging the wooden sword toward Setsuna's undefended side. The moment before contact though, Setsuna spun a quarter-turn so that her sword was in perfect blocking position.

"Good job," Jo said, pressing the attack at a rather slow but steady pace. High strike, low strike, high strike. "I didn't expect you to block that."

Setsuna popped a light smile at that, whether sincere or flippant Jo didn't know. "You'll have to do better, then," Setsuna said, then suddenly ducked and thrust, catching Jo by surprise.

"Point, Setsuna!" Kozue announced.

After Jo and Setsuna resumed their starting places, they started the match again. This time Jo went on the offensive with an opening horizontal slash that Setsuna almost couldn't block. Jo followed up with a thrust that almost scored a point.

"I'm at the advantage," Setsuna said plainly as she put forward a modest offensive.

"Yeah, all my other matches, I know," Jo replied as she blocked Setsuna's attacks and reciprocated with her own.

"No, that's not it." Setsuna blocked as she continued. "I've been able to watch you."

"Oh, and what's your evaluation?" Jo asked, dodging a swipe and giving a playful one in return.

"You seem to have a good grasp on the basics, but you don't have any advanced techniques," Setsuna said as she deflected an attack, then she smiled and launched into a full-out attack. "LIKE THIS!"

Jo sprang back, to the side, and forward again, counterattacking Setsuna. "Just because I haven't used them doesn't mean that I don't have them!"

Setsuna was surprised; the speed Jo had just shown was on par with her own attack moments ago, but that had missed because Jo had dodged it, which meant... Jo was holding back, a lot.

"Point, Jo!" Kozue called. The two went to their spots and started again on Kozue's signal.

"You don't have to go easy on me!" Setsuna almost yelled, angry but keeping that anger in control. True, she wasn't going at full-tilt, but she wanted to see just what the new-girl was capable of.

"I'm not 'going easy' on you..." Jo said, parrying a thrust and counterattacking for a point. "I'm practicing my basics. It's been a while since I could."

Kozue had barely started the round again when Setsuna launched into a full-force attack. "So, I'm just an excuse for you to practice your basics!" she yelled as she lunged.

Jo hadn't meant to taunt her, but as well as she was doing she might as well. "Yeah, looks that way," Jo replied with a mischievous smile, holding Setsuna's onslaught back.

"You!" Setsuna lunged, and with a downward strike landed a hit squarely on the upper edge of Jo's faceplate.

Jo's eyes widened in surprise, more from the mildly throbbing pain than the speed of the strike. That was very impressive for a middle-school girl.

Making her way to the other side of the ring, Jo stumbled a bit when a wave of momentary dizziness swept over her. She was vaguely aware of Kozue looking concerned but motioned him away, intent on finishing the match. Besides, with the Bakusai Tenketsu training, concussion from a sword-fight was unlikely.

Jo took her spot, shook her head to clear it, and took a deep breath. Feeling better, she nodded to Kozue and it was on again. Both Setsuna and Jo had two points, so the next point would win the match.

The two started circling each other, intent on finding the opening in the other fighter. Setsuna had the upper hand with that last hit, it seemed, but Jo wasn't making it easy for Setsuna to exploit any opening as she played defensively until Setsuna made a mistake.

Then it came. Setsuna struck and Jo dove to the right, striking out with an upward horizontal-slash... that didn't connect. Setsuna had maneuvered just out of the sword's arc. Jo turned her dive into a roll and started to came up with a fast vertical stroke when there was a tap on her side; Setsuna's point.

Jo blinked; that was... unexpected. If Setsuna could have dodged that and struck like that, then she was much better than she'd shown in that match. It brought a smile to Jo's lips; things here were interesting if a middle school kid was this good.

Jo strode over to Setsuna and held out her hand. "Good match," she said as they shook hands, "but what was all that about, holding back?"

Setsuna looked at Jo like she was off her rocker.

"You avoided my last strike and got one in before I could stop you," Jo explained.

"You're right." Setsuna nodded and slowly broke into a smile as she bowed politely. "It was a good match; thank you."

Setsuna turned and started to leave, but stopped short when she made eye contact with a cute girl with long brown hair. "You were great Set-chan!" the girl said with a friendly smile.

"Excuse me." Setsuna politely bowed and turned to leave out the back way.

Jo went over to the girl Setsuna had brushed off, "I'm sorry about that, she seems much nicer than that... usually. I guess the match with me really drained her..." Jo apologized, though upon later examination she couldn't put her finger on why she did, or why she'd covered for Setsuna.

"Oh," the girl replied with a somewhat saddened look, "I see."

"Hey, wanna go get some ice cream? My treat," Jo offered; the poor girl looked like she really needed a friend right about now, a feeling that Jo was quite familiar with. It was unavoidable in Jo's normal situation.

The other girl started to protest but, when Jo insisted, she agreed. So Jo went to change out of her kendo equipment and into her normal uniform. As she was doing so, she reviewed the fight and what happened afterwards. Upon further examination, she found that she had to admit that she hadn't thought so negatively about herself in a long while.

Jo quickly went into the back to stow her kendo equipment and change into her uniform, but when Jo looked in the mirror she saw a big long bruise on her forehead, where Setsuna had struck. "It's like the strike went through the kendo mask... I'll have to learn how to do that."

))o((

Kari wandered the shopping district at Mahora Academy. Well, to be precise, it was the shopping district right outside of Mahora Academy. The buildings had sprung up, from her understanding, many years ago when the school picked up popularity. Like the school, the buildings were reminiscent of older Europe with their design.

The girl was looking around. It wasn't too crowded during a weekday. She paused for a moment to gaze into a store display where they showed off some jeans and tube tops. She could do without the latter, but a good pair of pants would be a welcome addition to her wardrobe, which consisted mostly of skirts and dresses, thanks to a certain time guardian.

She sighed in longing. She really needed some more money. So she could buy that sort of stuff. She had a little, but not enough to spend recklessly. She wasn't that immature; she might need that little bit of money in the future. But... pants would last well into the future...

She quickly shook her head. No, she wasn't there to window shop. She was there to find a monster! A pravus, or whatever they were called. Not that she expected to find one in a popular shopping district. Especially in the middle of the day. With people around. Away from the actual academy grounds. Away from anything which might draw a pravus.

Okay, maybe she was there to window shop.

A series of noises interrupted Kari's... mission. The noises sounded like a bit of scuffling and some voices. "You should know better than wandering around alone, y'know?"

"Yeah!" another voice agreed. "You never know what you'll run into."

Despite the remarkable similarities the speech might have had with typical street thugs, the voices were young and feminine as opposed to adult and masculine. It almost sounded comical rather than threatening. Nonetheless, Kari made her way over to see what was going down.

"Don't you middle school kids have any place better to go? I thought you were still tied to your mother's apron strings at your age!"

Kari found the alley rather easily, brushing past two students with box-laden arms and making her way into a small alleyway. A small girl, about fourteen, was on her knees with her face in her hands as two older girls, in some school uniform Kari didn't recognize, stood over her.

One of them shoved the younger girl, hard, causing her to fall over. "What's the matter?" the girl sneered, revealing her voice as the first one Kari had heard. Also the one who made the joke about the apron strings. Really, where did they get their jeers from?

Kari said as much. "Honestly, where do your get your lines?" As the girls turned to look over toward her, it allowed the girl they had been picking on time to get back off of the ground into a sitting position. "I'd fire whoever you have writing your lines," the blue haired girl continued, "because I've heard better stuff from American comic books. And trust me, that's an insult."

The two girls glared, then paused, noting Kari's uniform. "Oh? Did they start letting the elementary school kids into middle school now?" The first girl, a girl with longer hair of the two, was the one speaking.

"Did they start letting dogs into high school as well?" Kari added. She assumed from what they said that they must be high schoolers. "Because I see a few wearing their uniforms."

The girl with longer hair flushed with anger while the second simply stared in disbelief. The first marched over. Kari could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. When she got close enough, she made to shove Kari, hard.

Good thing for Kari she had already stepped to the side. "Watch it, buddy," she chided. "Somebody might think you're starting a fight. And I don't think you're used to having to pick on people who pick back."

"Just shut up!" Another attempted shove.

With a quick catch and snap of the wrist, twist of the hips, the older girl was on the ground. "See what I mean?" Kari said with a smile. She cracked her knuckles. "But since you've started the fight, I guess it's my job to end it, right?"

It's amazing how fast a normal person can run with the right motivation.

Kari brushed off her shirt, then her plaid skirt, as if the small encounter had dirtied them. "Well, that was fun." She walked over to where the girl they had been bullying was still sitting.

"Th-thanks," the victim said, brushing a stray strand of reddish-brown hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear.

"No problem," Kari replied with a smile. She offered a hand to help the girl up. As the other girl took the proffered hand, the blue-haired girl remembered. "Hey, wait, you're in my class, right?"

The girl stood up with Kari's help. She blinked at the question. "Um, yeah..." She had thought Kari must have recognized her, but apparently she hadn't.

Kari looked up at the girl, as she did with most people her age or above. She considered her for a moment. "I think I remember your name from roll call... yeah..." She snapped her fingers. "It begins with an 'N,' right?"

"Yeah, that's right. It's-"

"No!" the shorter girl interrupted. "I remember it now! It's..." She gave a dramatic pause. "NEGI!"

The girl almost fell onto her face. "THAT'S OUR TEACHER!"

"Oh, yeah..."

"My name's Natsumi! Natsumi Murakami!"

Kari waved a hand in a placating gesture. "Calm down, calm down." She sighed. "No need to be emotional." She looked up at the girl again. "Honestly, you seemed like such nice, quiet kind of girl, too."

"I think any girl would be insulted if you confuse her with her ten-year-old boy teacher..."

The shorter girl scoffed. "Anybody could make that mistake!"

Natsumi calmed down. "Well, thank you anyway." Despite mistaking her for a grade school boy, Kari HAD saved her from a messy situation.

"Didn't you already thank me? No need to do it twice." The shorter girl turned around. "Now c'mon, let's get out of here. Better places to be than dingy alleyways, right?"

))o((

"I AM THE MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW! I'VE SEEN TROUBLE ALL MY DAYS!"

A number of jeers met that. "Boo!" "You suck!" "Get off the stage, ya bum!" In addition, all of those jeers came from only one person.

"Kari!" Hotaru chastised.

Said blue--haired and, currently, zealously heckling kunoichi turned her head. "What?"

"Be nice."

Kari blinked, perplexed. "But... I was..."

"I BID FAREWELL TO OLD KENTUCKY! THE PLACE WHERE I WAS BORN and..." Erin's gaze suddenly shifted towards the door. "I'll get it!" She put down the mic, stopped the music, and began to head over to the door.

Kari turned towards Hotaru once more, pushing a small carton of eggs behind her back as she asked, "Did you hear anything?"

"No," was the other girl's simple reply. Not like she could hear anything over that music anyway...

Kari appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, before stating, "Ah well. I guess, unlike us, she's immune to her own terrible... gee, Hotaru, what would you call that 'genocide to music'?"

"I'd call it singing..."

"You could, but that doesn't properly convey the sheer horror I felt..." Kari felt a shiver go down her spine. "Never again..."

"Kari?"

Kari's head turned back towards Hotaru. "Huh?"

"Could you... umm... go sing?" Hotaru looked fearfully toward Erin's returning form.

Kari smirked. "Sure."

Smiling widely, Kari walked over to the small and, admittedly, rather cheap looking karaoke machine. Popping out the CD inside, she quickly replaced it with another from a small folder. After a little fiddling, she turned towards the small TV Screen and began.

"Tears gather as if they're returning to the night sky, it's only unshaken love that'll scatter like stardust."

"Everyone, this is Sayo, Sayo, everyone.."

Kari's singing only got louder, apparently drowning out Erin's introduction. "In the night when we didn't know whether we were alive or not... We were engulfed by the starless night sky. 'Don't disappear light' a lost heart seems to cry, I just want to see you!"

Erin frowned. Kari's singing was drowning out her voice, so she repeated, this time louder. "Everyone, this is Sayo. Sayo, these are..."

Strangely, Kari's singing seemed to get even louder. "Thinking seriously amongst illusions delusions and dreams, the miracle within us awakens. Don't forget you're not alone; always we are just a dreamer. Take love, get all love, get back love in our hands, its only unshaken love that'll scatter like stardust!"

Sighing in frustration, Erin turned back towards Sayo. "Sorry, it seems princess... err, I mean Kari, is being a royal pain."

Sayo just bit her lip and nodded.

"So you like the new look?" Erin waved her hand to encompass the room. Almost everything had been redone in purple; the walls, the curtains, the sheets on the beds... oh, and the lamps. There were lamps everywhere, even where there shouldn't be lamps. "Hotaru redecorated while we were out earlier."

"It's, um, very nice..."

Jo looked at Erin oddly as Kari did her best to drown out Erin's voice with her singing. Just who was that girl talking to?

"Oh, hey, you hungry?" Erin unconsciously licked her lips.

Sayo just shook her head.

With a shrug, Erin turned back towards the kitchen and said, "Alrighty, you go take the seat next to Hotaru then while I make me something to munch on... you sure you don't want anything?"

"I'm fine," Sayo replied.

Erin nodded, then left towards the kitchen, quickly busying herself about the task of making a sandwich. A few minutes time found Erin and her meal exiting the kitchen and Kari and Hotaru having switched places.

Using her height to her advantage, Erin placed her plate atop the upper bunk, before going around the side of the bed to climb the few steps up.

Kari's head poked out from the bottom bunk. "What the heck are you doing?"

With a frown, Erin responded coldly, "The bottom bunk's full. So I'm going up here to sit."

Kari just rolled her eyes and returned to her seat with a muttered, "Whatever," as her only retort.

Jo cringed as Kari turned her gaze from the silver haired screwball, and aimed it straight at her. She knew exactly what the short ninja wanted, but there was no way she would do it, no way she would become the ninja's patsy ... at least this time.

Kari coughed slightly in Jo's direction.

Jo gritted her teeth. Even if it looked like she was going to have to sit through another half hour of Eryn's screeching, she wouldn't sing; what people said about leading a horse to water applied equally to pulling someone up to a karaoke mic.

"Say, Jo..." Kari began.

"No," Jo replied firmly, denying the request before the ninja could even ask her.

"Hey! You didn't even let me finish!"

"And I don't need to," Jo countered. "I'm not your puppet, put here for your amusement, sick and sadistically twisted as it is!"

"Okay," Kari gave Jo the oddest look, "I won't ask you to make me a sandwich... Erin! Make me a sandwich!"

Erin grumbled under her breath as she jumped down from the top bunk, carrying her now barren plate and glass and trudging towards the kitchen.

As Erin grumbled and muddled about in the kitchen, Hotaru left the improvised stage with a small shy bow. Looking at Kari and Jo with what can only be deemed the world's brightest smile, she asked, "So, who's next?"

Kari pointed at Jo.

Jo pointed at Kari.

Kari growled.

Jo got up.

Walking over to the karaoke machine, Jo grudgingly searched through the CDs. Picking one, she placed it into the contraption. She picked up the mic, glared at Kari, then began. "All my life I've been waiting for you to bring a fairy tale my way. Been living in a fantasy without meaning. It's not okay, I don't feel safe, I need you babe..."

Less then a minute later, Erin walked back into the room, half stunned. All but dropping the sandwich in Kari's lap, she took a seat on the floor in front of the bunk bed. Looking at Jo in wonder, she muttered, "Wow... Just... Wow.."

Hotaru nodded from where she sat. "Awesome."

Sayo whispered, "Beautiful."

Kari nodded sagely. "Better then sex."

Three blank stares and one blank glare met Kari's comment head on.

"Or... so I've heard," Kari added with a slight blush.

Eryn frowned at the diminutive ninja. "You do know we're SUPPOSED to be middle schoolers, right?"

Kari's reply was a firm and well-tossed sandal to the head.

Fuming, Erin glared at Kari, who seemed, for all intents and purposes, firmly wrapped in Jo's singing.

Turning towards Sayo, Erin continued to frown. Sayo, of course, replied to the frown with puppy dog eyes, but Erin just sighed and shook her head.

Standing up, she walked towards the door.

Turning towards Sayo, she was about to speak, when it seemed the volume of Jo's singing suddenly increased to near-deafening proportions.

Spinning around, Eryn grimaced as he saw Kari, a rather innocent look covering her face, looking back at him. He could almost swear he saw a halo floating over her head. But she instantly dismissed the idea when she saw the ninja palm the remote control to the karaoke machine.

Turning back to Sayo, with her teeth grating against each other, Erin managed to growl out, "Thank ..you .. for .. stopping .. by .. I'll .. see .. you .. later .. I .. have .. a .. roommate .. in .. need .. of .. a .. good .. thrashing."

Sayo nodded dumbly as Erin opened the door for her, closing it almost as soon as she was through.

Rather thunderous sounds of a fracas followed rather soon after. Sayo frowned as they died away, mumbling, "Poor little girl..."

Inside, Jo looked down at Erin as she stepped over her. "Poor little moron..."

))o((

IV. _Finis_

))o((


End file.
